Scottish Elises

Just saw an article about it on CNN.

What do you reckon to its potential Simon?

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/afp/201 ... nment.html

tut

Not read the article, but in theory, if they have a cheap to make, reliable, super efficient petrol engine, they are in.

All electric technology isn't quite there - and although it might well be closer than most want to think, the infrastructure isn't there for charging them, nor for supplying the charge - a coal fired power station charging electric cars is pointless right?
Petrol cars aren't going to be replaced overnight. The majority of folk can't afford a new car, never mind a hugely inflated price electric one. You only have to look at the popularity of small petrol cars in the UK to see this would work for some years to come imo..

Looks like wind and pish to me.

tut wrote:Just saw an article about it on CNN.

What do you reckon to its potential Simon?

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/afp/201 ... nment.html

tut

well, yes and no.

none of this is new, there's a NZ company that did this years ago, made a replacement for a Subaru flat 4 using paired linear pistons - the theory is that you don't have the same skirt friction losses as there is no side load on the piston(s), the downside is you still have to have a slide block or the like to get to the crank (looking at the pictures in that article it looks like how ship engines are built with vertical pistons onto a cross-block and con-rod).

Put simply, it's a non-starter, fine for stationary/BIG stuff, no use in a small package.

if you into this kind of this, the most promising is an Axial engine from Duke:

Watch on YouTube

As above

You have a big mass wobbling back and forth so it will vibrate like a barsteward

And i don't know about you but the wheels on my car go round and round not back and forth so you will need a crank to eat up some power

The max theoretical efficiency of an internal combustion engine is about 50%

Current cars are reaching 30% ish

The best engines in the world are low speed super long stroke marine diesels which are reaching 53% with some deeply clever tech on them including using a power turbine from exhaust gases feeding into the crankshaft and exhaust gas heat recovery to run a steam turbine

So double is 60%

It ain't happening


Also

Once you have driven an EV it makes an internal combustion engine seem like something out of the victorian age

Sorry the internal combustion engine has reached its peak

While i love a ICE in some places i would prefer my daily driver to be electric

thinfourth wrote:

Once you have driven an EV it makes an internal combustion engine seem like something out of the victorian age

Sorry the internal combustion engine has reached its peak

While i love a ICE in some places i would prefer my daily driver to be electric

You wrote this in an earlier post ages ago, I think you'd driven a Leaf?

Anyway, I read it, booked a test drive off the back of it and we get an i3 next month.

You're right.

(Sometimes that's just nice to hear).


Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk

thinfourth wrote:Once you have driven an EV it makes an internal combustion engine seem like something out of the victorian age

Sorry the internal combustion engine has reached its peak

While i love a ICE in some places i would prefer my daily driver to be electric

to a point, you're right, the issues are still with energy storage, although the goalposts are moving fast.

ICE's will always have a place, just not sure it's going to be in everyday cars for much longer.

whilst we are talking wacky engines, my personal favorite is this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Napi ... mation.gif

(gurrr... board does not seem to supports .gif's)

The Napier Deltic

pete wrote:

thinfourth wrote:

Once you have driven an EV it makes an internal combustion engine seem like something out of the victorian age

Sorry the internal combustion engine has reached its peak

While i love a ICE in some places i would prefer my daily driver to be electric

You wrote this in an earlier post ages ago, I think you'd driven a Leaf?

Anyway, I read it, booked a test drive off the back of it and we get an i3 next month.

You're right.

(Sometimes that's just nice to hear).


Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk

Yep test drove a leaf and was amazed at home it drove

I then got a new job which involves zero stop start traffic and ten miles less a day so i can't justify one yet

And the attraction is zero to do with the tree huggery element it is purely how it drives

I didn't spend long on the article, but the Simons diagram looks similar to a cranked piston fuel pump, but obviously in reverse. The piston pump drive was applied at an angle so the pistons saw full travel as the drive head rotated. I suppose you could design an engine with the reverse of the principle. The piston pump I saw was from an aircraft, it was a pretty old design in the 80's and had been replaced by a gear pump design.

thinfourth wrote: Yep test drove a leaf and was amazed at home it drove

I then got a new job which involves zero stop start traffic and ten miles less a day so i can't justify one yet

And the attraction is zero to do with the tree huggery element it is purely how it drives

if you think the leaf drives nice, god knows what you would make of a Tesla S!

it's the first EV I have driven that is a proper full sized car and put bluntly, exceeds everything else in that size/shape.

Scuffers wrote:

thinfourth wrote: Yep test drove a leaf and was amazed at home it drove

I then got a new job which involves zero stop start traffic and ten miles less a day so i can't justify one yet

And the attraction is zero to do with the tree huggery element it is purely how it drives

if you think the leaf drives nice, god knows what you would make of a Tesla S!

it's the first EV I have driven that is a proper full sized car and put bluntly, exceeds everything else in that size/shape.

If i struggle to justify the expense of a leaf

Do you think i am going to be buying a tesla?

Man maths applied to Tesla, not to leaf

I think EVs will see a surge in populartity once they are affordable AND desirable. It's one or the other at the moment. The number of Model 3 deposits taken suggests there's room for some competition in between a Zoe/Leaf/i3 and a Model S

graeme wrote:I think EVs will see a surge in populartity once they are affordable AND desirable. It's one or the other at the moment. The number of Model 3 deposits taken suggests there's room for some competition in between a Zoe/Leaf/i3 and a Model S

exactly,

and if you add in the fuel costs it starts to stack up.

based on 10,000 miles PA (a low figure) you're looking at £100/month saving in fuel costs to run a model S vs. petrol car.

Yes, the model S is a £50K+ car, but the 3 won't be....

I configed up a p100d for a laugh with all the options... 136 grand!