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Dean Kamen Combines Stirling Engine With Electric Car
Colin Smith writes "Dean Kamen, (inventor of the Segway) has combined a Stirling engine with a battery-powered electric vehicle based on the Ford Think to provide a fully decoupled electric hybrid car which can run on any fuel which can provide enough heat to run the Stirling generator. Think are also producing a purely battery 'Think City' car which is capable of 62mph and with a range of 126miles." Some stats on the Ford Think: Top speed, 55mph; 0-30, 6.5 seconds; Range, 60 miles on battery.
If your product needs to resort to odd spellings, like replacing the i in Think with an exclamation mark, that means you are dealing with a bunch of marketing hype and are trying to cash in on a fad instead of doing something useful.
...in the article. First is "The prototype vehicle, a zippy two-seat hatchback...can go 60 miles on a single charge": second, "It can use any fuel, from biodiesel to natural gas; it burns clean".
On the first comment, 60 miles for some is less than their daily commute to work. And this is without any side trips to pick up kids, groceries, dry cleaning, etc. I realize that the big "Woo-Hoo" of this project is the back-up Sterling engine, but its main selling point is the no-emissions electric power.
Second is the comment about "burns clean". I takes a *tremendous* amount of design work to get an internal combustion engine to "burn clean" using a single fuel; making it a "universal fuel capable" and still "burn clean" will be impossible. This appears to be an exterior combustion engine (no spark plug, pistons, etc) - for lack of a better word - and will increase the difficulty of clean burning beyond the impossible to mearly fantasy.
This is an interesting idea. It will revolutionize transportation the same way that the Segway did.
Chaos maximizes locally around me.
Dean Kamen - "Inventor of the Segway"
Ah, Dean! Dean Kamen! Wonderful inventor and free-thinking genius!
Either that, or a manipulative self-promoter more interested in hyping his way to riches than actually making a difference with anything.
Perhaps he might change the world this time. Or maybe not. I doubt he really cares.
"And the meaning of words; when they cease to function; when will it start worrying you?"