What kind of performance would the Tesla have

[zeropointbug]

Oh yes, I see you emailed me... looks fantastic unit, exactly what I was imagining. I was gone for the weekend, so no access to PC.

I just did some more searching and found Audi launched a R&D project for turbine electric hybrids as well.

[lutach]

Originally Posted by zeropointbug

Oh yes, I see you emailed me... looks fantastic unit, exactly what I was imagining. I was gone for the weekend, so no access to PC.

I just did some more searching and found Audi launched a R&D project for turbine electric hybrids as well.

Now think about one thing. Audi is doing this now? That set up I sent you was from the early 90's and the units now are much smaller, powerful and efficient. Audi has a lot of catching up to do. Have you read about that Factory Five car? They use such a set up, but it's far from the one I showed you. I think the drive unit for the Factory Five car is from AC Propulsion.

[lutach]

BTW, nice avatar.

[zeropointbug]

Thanks.

Ya, Audi has catching up to do, but at the same time, I am wondering if they have industry professionals working on it as well that would be up to date, relatively on that technology.

I know this works very (VERY) well on a larger scale (ex. tanks), but I am wondering how cost effective in the end it will be in small cars?

Do you have a link to the Factory Five Car? I have never heard of it.

[lutach]

Originally Posted by zeropointbug

Thanks.

Ya, Audi has catching up to do, but at the same time, I am wondering if they have industry professionals working on it as well that would be up to date, relatively on that technology.

I know this works very (VERY) well on a larger scale (ex. tanks), but I am wondering how cost effective in the end it will be in small cars?

Do you have a link to the Factory Five Car? I have never heard of it.

They can have all the industry pros going at it and they'll never be at the same level as the US Military . Tanks with this technology is awesome and some are very fast. Those big Behemoth mining trucks use a huge diesel engine/generator and the motors are at the wheels, they are some of if not the biggest trucks around with a top speed of around 40mph (http://www.liebherr.com/me/en/produc...=106220!1944-0). Big ships use a similar diesel hybrid technology and trains as well.

Here's the company that's making the hybrid turbine/generator system http://microturbine.com/news/links.asp, here's an article http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009...-auto-show.php (There are many more and a video in Youtube) and here's Factory Five's website http://www.factoryfive.com/.

[zeropointbug]

Huh, I wonder how much the 30Kw unit costs? That looks superb for a high performance electric hybrid, very efficient... should be able to maintain at least 175mpg at all times, over the range of the car, accounting for the initial all electric range.(depends on size of battery)

So do you have access to this type of gen. set then? at what cost?

I know you can make a crude turbine engine from a traditional turbo charger, not near as good, but it works non the less. I wonder if it could be fined tuned to power a small vehicle such as a hybrid motor bike?

[lutach]

Originally Posted by zeropointbug

Huh, I wonder how much the 30Kw unit costs? That looks superb for a high performance electric hybrid, very efficient... should be able to maintain at least 175mpg at all times, over the range of the car, accounting for the initial all electric range.(depends on size of battery)

So do you have access to this type of gen. set then? at what cost?

I know you can make a crude turbine engine from a traditional turbo charger, not near as good, but it works non the less. I wonder if it could be fined tuned to power a small vehicle such as a hybrid motor bike?

Give Capstone a call, I posted the link above ( http://microturbine.com or http://capstoneturbine.com/). There's no secret with this one as it's a public company. The info I sent you is a different story. I don't know the cost, but it'll be worth every penny. Also, your 175mpg calculation is very conservative. I don't think the little home brewed turbine will have enough torque to get the 30Kw generator going. I might be wrong though, don't really know much about turbines. Capstone also has a 65Kw and a 200Kw unit. Best thing about them is the fact you can use 6 types of fuel, like the unit I sent you info on. Here are 2 distributors in Canada: www.onpower.com (Eastern Canada) and www.tarponenergy.com (Western Canada).