Hypercar

I am very interested in the hybrid diesel concept.

I believe that new GM volt will do this, using an on board small and efficient diesel engine to recharge the batteries.
The Aptera that Nico digs on is diesel, and from what I could tease out from the very limited text on their site, the test vehicle was completely fossil fuel (diesel) driven, no electric motor. Its a good example of what a hyper car is, super efficient due to design, so that it uses little of whatever fuel is used to drive it.

Now, here's a bit of interesting text, on how to make a 100 MPG car out of existing tech:

If you want a car that will get 100 miles per gallon of fuel, you can build your own right now. This plan is based on an idea I got from a friend, but it has worked in the past and will work again. The idea is this. Start with a small car that weighs no more than about 2000 pounds. Many small sedans and hatchbacks from Honda, Toyota, Ford, Geo, Suzuki, Nissan, and the like are available. It must have a standard transmission and a good clutch. Next, throw out (remove and sell) the 80 hp engine it comes with and replace it with a 20 hp diesel engine. EPA certified engines in this range can be purchased from Yanmar. Then connect a belt-drive torque converter between the engine and the manual clutch. These simple transmission systems are used in snowmobiles, ATV's and Jet-Ski water craft, and are available in power ranges up to 120 hp.

As odd as this may sound, this system will give the following performance. First, mileage will be above 60 mpg in the city and close to 100 mpg on the highway. Second, for town driving, you can just stick the standard transmission in 3rd gear and drive around without shifting, just using the accelerator and brakes. Acceleration is peppy and smooth with your new, infinitely variable automatic transmission (torque converter). Third, out on the highway, speeds of 70 mph and 80 mph are still possible without a problem. The only performance compromise is found in climbing long, steep hills. The car can handle them with ease, but may slow down to 60 mph or 55 mph during the climb. This is a small price to pay for the other benefits.


I'm also really interested in the Green Collar Jobs work of the Ella Baker Center. So, perhaps a business model for that program would be along the lines of retrofitting older cars with bunked engines to super efficient diesels? This would also greatly reduce gas prices for lower income workers. A great boon that the poor should get right away in the new green economy.

Also, these cars being diesels would make them ready for biodiesel. Which we don't have solved yet (see my post in biomassive), but once we have a sustainable way of producing biodiesel these cars would be ready.

What about converting to hybrid electric diesel? This would an electric engine, batteries, and a mounting plate. Perhaps not the cheapest option, and perhaps not worth it for the price. But I'm really interested right now in reducing gas consumption of our cars at an affordable rate.

What about converting older cars into electric cars? I've seen many examples, and it seems that the going rate is around $10 K. Is there any way to make this cheaper? And could you sell off the individual components out of the car that are no longer needed in order to finance the retrofit? What about making your own electric car that can recharge from an onboard small diesel engine?

Your thoughts?

ooo that steam/gas engine is a great idea, sucks it needs all that water, a closed loop would be awesome. if they could get 87 mpg in 1950, then dammit I want 300mpg now!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_KR200

dbell wrote: Either way, if you could make this conversion into a financially feasible investment, it can become a source of green collar jobs. The brand new fuel cell-hydrogen-luxury car is sexy, but its customer base is too narrow. Change needs to engage the middle 80%.

...

So, perhaps a business model for that program would be along the lines of retrofitting older cars with bunked engines to super efficient diesels? This would also greatly reduce gas prices for lower income workers. A great boon that the poor should get right away in the new green economy.

----

 

I am just begining to check out this territory, though i have a friend with a biodiesel truck ---

 

my question would be if you were going to develop a program/ system of retrofitting cars, teach people who need jobs the skills to do the work (like you mentioned with the green for all analogy) etc. ...

 

1.  How long do you think it would take to develop the program.?

 

2. How long do you think the process would take to retrofit one car like you described (backyard garage work)...?

 

3.  How much time / energy / money would the program save. etc? : how much do the entry level people get paid?  how much does it cost to train them?  how much time does the training take?  how complicated is the work relative to similar work that already exists?  Where would you set up a garage? what kind of established companies/ contractors might be interested in branching out into this kind of work?  it seems like a market that would be ultra successful!.... how do you convince companies/ contractors to initiate something like this; green jobs / retrofitting cars?.... how do you make it into an attractive financially-feasible investment?  how do you structure into the program a reward system for any company/ garage that picks up this kind of work?  Is their a national chain that might be ideal for this? that might be able to be convinced of the potential in this kind of market?   

 is their a way to organize a huge group/network of consumers online to support the flagship project with guranteed purchases of retrofitted vehicles by staff trained with a green for all esque program? 

 

4. Are their any reasons why this wouldn't pay off/ work out in the short term?

 

It sure sounds like a great idea, looking forward to reading more about this/ hearing back

 

peace