What if... (Jed asks)
The genset comes on automatically, but it does not have enough
horsepower to keep the car running at full highway speed. The
car slows down rapidly. This is obviously dangerous and would
not be allowed.
I think you partially answered you own question when you said
"The only way.... is to have the genset powerful enough to carry
the full weight of the vehicle at highway speeds for hundreds of
miles, up long steep grades..."
As you not doubt remember from your vision-quest LENR book - and
the possibility of using LENR for auto power - the minimum needed
here is low what - maybe 30 kwh... remember?
OK let's return to the premise of the light Wankel-based genset.
This is 50 kwh unit which is more than enough to "carry the full
weight of the vehicle at highway speeds for hundreds (even
hundreds of thousands of miles) and up long steep grades"... BUT
it is not high torque power for acceleration...
Big difference. Otherwise the small small Wankel would have
supplanted the large ICE years ago. This is the beautiful synergy
you seem to be looking past. The small Wankel spins fast, and is
as efficient as any gasoline ICE, but in a small size, it only
works in a situation where high torque can be provide by something
else - in this case a large electric motor - the characteristic of
which is maximum torque at minimum RPM. Yes, its constant high
6000 rpm will wear it down fast if it is used all the time for
power. If you need it only four weeks a year for long trips it
should be be good for maybe 15 years, however.
It is a match made in heaven, but apparaently I failed to explain
that well enough.
The bottom line is that - for comparative purposes, the very
substantial amount of weight you save by going to the small Wankel
can be devoted to batteries instead.
Imagine the old heavyweight GM EV1 which was so very popular with
owners but had short range and no backup - this Wankel genset
would have kept it in contention. Of course GM is old school -
"not invented here syndrome" and they lost what little advantage
they had with it.
The larger electric motor needs more stored kwh than the Prius but
that is for freeway use. Big electric motors are more - not less
efficient than small ones. Plus - if it can go on the highway
without needing the fossil fuel engine at all - then we are only
going to need to provide for the longer trip scenario.
Jones
