According to Wired's Autopia blog, maybe soon:
Volkswagen is exploring using lithium ion batteries in future hybrid vehicles. The German automaker is working with Hybrid Technologies to develop a concept vehicle in North Carolina. Hybrid Technologies is currently working on hybrid Smart Cars for Europe with lithium batteries instead of the nickel-metal hydride batteries used in today's hybrids.Me, I'm simply looking forward to the first VW hybrid commercial.
In September VW said it would begin building hybrid Touran cars in China with Shanghai Automotive. Speaking of China, GM recently agreed to work with SAIC Motor Company on producing low-cost hybrids for the world's third largest auto market.
Volkswagen has been late to the game, but I'm still holding out hope for a hybrid Golf TDI that will get around 70 mpg.
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amazingdrx Posted 6:56 am
08 Nov 2005
That paves the way for affordable plugin electric cars that have the range and performance needed to compete with hybrids.
But the final blow to hybrids that use infernal combustion as the main power source is a plugin biofueled generator that substitutes for half the batteries in a plugin electric vehicle so that long trips without stopping to recharge become possible.
A battery pack in the trunk, for instance, that slides out and the biofuel generator slides in. No more main oil burning power source needed.
You visit your dealership and do the swap out for your vacation trip then swap back when the trip is over. That would leave maybe 1 in 10 cars actually needing the generator pack at any one time.
People who drive more miles than the plugin system would accomadate without recharge could just leave the generator in place permanently.
http://amazngdrx.myblogsite.com/blog
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Biodiversivist Posted 1:27 am
09 Nov 2005
Why? The generator converts only a fraction of the engine's input into electricity and the electric motor converts a fraction of that into motion. The additional losses in the generator and electic motor would be far too high to make this concept feasible (your gas mileage would be cut in half). Locomotives using this concept accept the low mileage as an engineering compromise that allows for efficient transfer of power without a transmission (trains don't have big hills to climb, or a large range of acceleration requirements).
In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Help acquire and protect ecological hotspots, give to a conservation organization: http://www.saveourbiodiversity.com
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amazingdrx Posted 7:07 am
09 Nov 2005
The efficiency of a generator operating at a fixed speed is greater than the efficiency of a typical car engine that has to constantly adjust to vehicle power needs.
And really I think that a microturbine generator would pull ahead of typical infernal combustion efficiency enough to justify this design.
And of course because the motors are also generators, they reclaim a signifigant part of braking power normally lost.
Add to that the fact that these cars would be mainly used in plugin mode, a small percentage of total miles would rely on the generator.
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