What we really need is a car company that will build one like this - Simplified Hybrids are the way to go. Fuel cells will never be practical in private transportation. Nor will Hydrogen power. This leaves you with an ungodly mess if you use almost any other fuel. Like to produce a vehicle that can burn rubber on takeoff on all four wheels and get 90+ mpg? What I would like to see the automakers working on would have: A turbocharged, two cylinder opposed, 2-cycle, air-cooled diesel directly driving a generator. (It would not be running most of the time.) A 370 volt Lithium-Ion Polymer battery pack. Nothing but wires going from the controller to every wheel, except for the necessary additional friction brakes (of course). An added advantage of this would be the ability to recharge from the electrical grid while at home, saving even more on fuel. Each wheel, depending on the feedback to the controller from wheel speed sensors would drive with just the right power depending on the accelerator position. You would get recharging from deceleration just as you do in today's hybrids. You would also use this feedback to stop the wheel from skidding. Each wheel would have a stationary stator and a series of fixed magnets closely adjacent all around the inside of the wheel. In a sense it would operate each wheel in a very similar fashion that the mag-lev trains use, except the motion would be circular, of course. Something very different about this type of motor is that the stators are fixed to the axles and the magnets are driven around them. This gives a significant increase in mechanical advantage. That's like turning an ordinary electric motor inside out. There would be no need for ordinary electric motor brushes. In fact, many electric motors operating today are brushless. Such motors already exist in the model airplane field and their efficiently is amazing - approaching 90%. I've got a couple and doubt that I would ever buy any other type. It's possible to hang the model on the prop right out in front of you and accelerate straight up, like a rocket, with this type motor In the vehicle the motor/generator would not turn on to recharge the batteries until they needed it. There are already experimental Lithium-Ion driven cars that can get in excess of 200 miles before they have to be recharged by plugging them in. Lithium -Ion battery technology is so new that I doubt that very many automotive engineers have even heard of them, much less thought to use them in this manner. Their energy density exceeds that of any other form of rechargeable energy storage. The Lithium Ion battery is the most efficient battery available right now. So is the outer rotor electric motor the most efficient motor. Build an SUV right and it will weight less and have simpler, easier to repair/replace modules. Lets see what we can eliminate while improving performance and efficiency. Transmission - None Ignition system - None Liquid cooling - None Valves and valve train - None Use bio-oil/fuels for both fuel and lubrication.
Moved this to "Other Cars", Lucas. You'll probably get more responses than in the "Dealers & Pricing" forum.
