Chevrolet Volt anyone?

www.chevrolet.com/pages/open/default/fuel/electric...o

A minefield. In no particular order:

You can't use fuel taxed at the rate for non-road use for propulsion. Red fuel can legally run a cab heater or fridge, that's all.

To the opening poster - forget it. Only a major vehicle producer has the remotest chance of getting a product to market and selling it. A small outfit has absolutely no chance - think Reliant Robin vs. Polo.

Common sense dictates that a diesel prime mover in conjunction with grid derived energy is the way to do this. There is some progress in the use of grid energy, but as most meaningful hybrid development is carried out outside Europe, there will be no diesel. A vehicle with a diesel engine in any guise or configuration is too difficult to sell world wide to be a proposition. Ultra low sulphur fuel is not universally available and particulate emissions regulations are set to become more onerous. Some US states effectively ban diesel cars.There is also user resistance to diesel fuel in several large markets.

You might JUST get a diesel hybrid from VAG or PSA but the Japanese have a clear lead at the moment and the Americans will throw "moon money" at it if and when they want to. My view is that despite the obvious advantages of such a vehicle, VAG and PSA won't go there if they've any sense.

A world market is the only one worth considering now. Politics always wins over engineering.

659.

A diesel conversion of the Toyota Prius would be interesting - I mean keeping the hybrid synergy drive but replacing the petrol engine with a diesel of similar output. Would that see the 50-60 mpg of the standard Prius leap to 70-80 mpg?

Also a diesel conversion of the Chevrolet Volt would be exceptionally economical - but since the car is designed to do its first 40 miles or so on battery power before the engine kicks, so the savings from a diesel would only kick in on longer journeys.

Also, because in both these cars the engine is not connected by any mechanical drive to the road wheels and therefore engine speed is completely independent of vehicle speed, the engine can always operate at optimum revs. So I'd imagine that 3-cylinder diesels would be ideal - saving weight and complexity and cost.

Where do we start with this one?

Hybrid cars

Diesel / electric is probably the most efficient combination. However the first hybrids were petrol / electric as there was low public acceptance for the diesel implementation.

The figures for petrol / electric are not great. They are expensive to buy, relatively slow and the CO2 figures are not as good as you would think.

Generator Cars

Using a engine to charge the battery and having electric only drive is often discussed. This allows the engine to run at constant speed where it is most efficient. Conversion losses when charging a battery are significant and the maximum rating of the electric drive will determine performance.

I guess a gas turbine would potentially be the best engine to use.

I don't think these will take off :-)

Charge From the Mains Electric Hybrids

This is where the current gold rush is. You will have seen the story on the Volvo V60 on here, which is charge from mains, diesel / electric hybrid.

Well national power generation is pretty CO2 efficient especially if it is from nuclear power. However, the reason the CO2 figures for these cars is so good has nothing to do with how the electricity is generated. This is because it is excluded from the vehicles CO2 calculation!

Do you ever feel that you have been conned?

I could go on about the extra energy costs of producing electric cars, or the rare and toxic material used in the batteries, but this has been done before by Top Gear amongst others.