Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Mechanic
The key ingredient that has yet to be incorporated is capacitive energy storage at extremely high efficiencies.
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I'm not sure I completely follow your use of "capacitive" -- it makes me think "capacitor", as in electric vehicles. They are used (for regen) in some hybrids, but with a lithium battery bank the size used in a 40-mile-range plugin hybrid, the ability of the batteries to absorb braking load is very high. There are electric cars with regen power that can exceed the traction of the tires. I gather you are thinking of ability to store energy very quickly, in the way a capacitor does, but using a hydraulic accumulator.
Very early in my career, I was tech writer for an underground mining equipment company. All the equipment was hydraulically-operated with a big electric motor as the prime mover. I got the job because I could read hydraulic prints, and that ability came mainly from having owned a couple Citroens and fooling with their hydraulic systems, and reading about hydraulics. I've mentioned elsewhere being impressed by a 1960's era hydraulic hybrid powered by an old 1200cc VW beetle engine. The car was basically a huge hydraulic accumulator with wheels. The car would smoke all four tires at the start of what for the day was a very fast 1/4 mile: 10 seconds or so.
So I definitely like your approach.
The appeal, for me, of a plug-in hybrid is that the energy that powers it most of the time can come from a huge list of sources: sun, wind, natural gas, nuclear, hydro, coal, oil, etc. A surprisingly large number of electric car owners also have solar panels, and some of these people are getting very quick paybacks. A second appeal is that electricity is dirt cheap, and will remain so for a long time even if electric vehicles sell at rates higher than the most optimistic projections.
Where I live, a Nissan Leaf costs about 2.5 cents per mile to fuel. A similar sized ICE car at 30 mpg average, costs, today $3.60/30 = 20 cents a mile.
Have you talked with Tom Kasmer? He has the "hydristor" and is a fan of hydraulics:
Hydristor - Home Page
I like your comparison of serial hybrids and hypermiling.
I don't think of your post as a hijacking. It's always interesting to see what others are up to.
Thanks Ken.