Jones Beene writes: > 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... I see your point. But the Prius ICE is 70 HP (52) kW, so it is the same. The ICE is small, too. Much smaller than a regular engine. It is 34% efficient. I doubt the Wankel is much better than that. Here is an interesting description of the Prius Atkinson cycle ICE: http://home.earthlink.net/~graham1/MyToyotaPrius/Understanding/InternalCombustion.htm > 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. What is the difference in weight? I cannot find the weight of either engine. All I can say is that the Prius engine is even smaller than the Geo Metro engine. It looks like a motorcycle engine. - Jed
