This is a good one:

 

I'm laughing, hahahaha!

 

Is the foolish perception that a hybrid HAS to be small in order to be efficient. WRONG---you need space to put all of the components in place so large hybrids to me are the way to go. Get the technology to WORK and then try to shrink the size. at some point however you will need X amount of space for the system.
Ours IMHO is the best WORK IN PROGRESS so far. Sure I'd like a hydrogen fueled vehicle...but just where am I going to fill it up while driving across Nevada? The only thing that I don't really understand about our current config. is why didn't they put even more batteries in the space in back where they took out the spare and then put in a great big resonator. I understand the weight thing but a couple of hundred lbs more to get maybe 10% more battery (or more) would be worth it. I want to go up to 40 before the ICE cuts in.
I would love to build my own version based on the Yukon. It would use ONLY electric motive power no ICE at all. and on board it would have a small gas turbine engine driving a generator. When the charge state of the batteries degenerated to recharge level, the turbine would start and drive the generator to recharge the system.....with this I COULD drive across Nevada with no issues, and utilizing a gas turbine instead of a conventional engine would give me the option of fueling up at the liquor store if need be as you can tune a gas turbine to rune on vodka, or corn oil, or coal oil, etc etc etc. fuel mileage would be excellent as the turbine would be tuned to run at the optimal STEADY speed for the system 100 mpg would be obtainable.

 

A big extended range electric vehicle. I love the coal idea Jet. Early in my career I got to see a Cadillac with one of the GM turbines. It was coal fired.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/au...es/04COAL.html

It passed me in the shop isle one morning. I heard the compressor whine and when it went by the familliar smell of locomotive.

When do you want to start building this marvel?

 

Yes, but...
Yes is for your point about large hybrids. Trains and buses are the best examples, also a lot of garbage trucks are targeted now. Little cars can do just fine without the battery and motors, where the system contributes to a larger percentage of the vehicle mass.
The "but" is for your last paragraph. The problem comes into your plan with the "ONLY electric" part. Our vehicles are putting down the ICE equiv. of a 400hp engine. With an electric, it is generally considered that 1/2 the hp will give the same performance (well, similar) as the electric has full torque at zero RPM.
So, you would need a 200hp electric motor, generator and batteries to support it, not to mention the turbine.
Assuming you don't make the trade-off to have only limited power available without battery-assist, then you have a massive amount of weight added, so the performance and towing capacity is now lower. Or, you will need a bigger motor, generator and turbine.
It starts getting pretty ugly. My friend builds pure electric cars, and has a wicked-fast electric cobra, and he built an electric semi. They are all heavy and he is using LiIon. Now, add a generator...
But, why is it that electricity is the magic bullet here? I have yet to understand that. Hydraulics are SO much more efficient in power to weight and power to size. This is what the big-boys do (garbage trucks, etc.). Yes, trains use electric, but they also have very narrow performance envelopes.
Despite my counter-point, I still agree that Priora suck, just a worthless use of technology that is less-useful than many other solutions, including the null-case (like the Segway is completely useless).

 

The quest for cheaper, available, alternative fuels or application of existing fuels is a real interesting challenge isn't it. On the one hand, we would have none of this happening if it weren't for the possible scaresity of oil or price of it and on the other, the race to maintain a product people are willing to buy.

You have to figure that the manufacturers engineers study this completely and have a power to weight ratio idea on every conceivable product they develope. The trucks/SUV's are going to get better but so will the cars. Electric Vehicles (EV) is not new at all. But they are new to the mainstream. The Volt is the direction that jet1 talks about and will be really great technology and provide a product that not only has a market but will be well received. Other technology will bloom from there just like the 2-Mode will evolve as will the lighter propulsion systems of the Prius etc. I don't get the application to much in the other light hybrids but love the 45 or so mpg's we get in the Prius day in day out. I love my big truck and the 20/20 mpg's that it gets. When you add LiIon to either of these, it will increase the range before ICE kicks in and reduce weight in one swoop. But it will increase the price until the market is saturated with LiIon batteries that are readily available.

I happen to like the segway and the technology it provides. I rented one in Boston and toured the city. Great idea and it is accepted and allowed there. And...they are a blast! But the last thing they may be is practical for the everyday person. Doesn't mean the technology hasn't contributed to EV's or hybrid developement...it is a process that started from an idea

 

right after I get my first multi million dollar gubmint grant!
I actually have looked in to it a bit. there are military turbine elec. trailer generators appearing on the surplus market. they are pretty large but for a test bed...maybe. I also thought about all the airliner bone yards and the various APU's they have in them. the only trick barrier for my thoughts right now is the electric motor to drive the vehicle proper. do you use a transmission to vary the power etc.
adding a railroad horn would be pretty fun as well!

 

Some planetary output to keep drive shaft speed below 3k and let the motor/generator have full dynamic range. If we could get ahold of an old Allison bus system. It uses NiMh like the Tahoe but a 6-pack of them. It even has its own HVAC system. The Allison drive motor is a monster. The inverter would fill the floor of Mel's pick up.

Got to have the old UP western horn. 80 gallons of air in 8 seconds.

 

The point isn't that a personal electric scooter is not useful, to the contrary, it is very useful. The Segway is worthless from an engineering or marketing perspective. The engineering solution to an inverted pendulum is something every junior-year EE solves. It has no application in the Segway solution, other than the novelty of seeing something stand on two laterally spaced wheels. Smokey did a much better job on this in the '80s. The ones you see being used in fleets, like around San Diego have four wheels, two big front ones, and two small casters in the back. They do everything the Segway does for less money and less power. Also, they consume zero power when parked. Segway is a bad design with a ton of good engineering thrown at it. Now it is not Segway anymore, as they silently disappeared into the night a week or two ago.

 

This may be the future of the automobile:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jHFT...layer_embedded