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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sam Citron who wrote (58659)	1/10/2002 7:05:35 PM
From: mitch-c	Respond to of 70976

OT - Regenerative braking The biggest hurdle to overcome is stored energy density ... current batteries are too heavy/expensive; flywheels are too unsafe. For now. Railroads have used hybrid engine designs for half a century ... that is what a diesel-electric locomotive actually is. Two major advantages of electric drive are: you need no brakes (reverse the current for electromagnetic braking); and you need no mechanical transmission - just vary the drive current. For something the size of a freight train, that saves a lot of dead weight. For my 60-ton tank, the (turbine) engine was about a cubic meter in volume, while the mechanical transmission was at least ten times that size (and mass). I raise that as a comparison ratio for pushing heavy metal around. I think cars are probably 1:3 or 1:5. Also, assuming electric drive, wouldn't it be nice to have your car trickle-charge itself in the parking lot using a solar cell roof on a sunny day? Another way to capture otherwise wasted (solar) energy. (Divert the excess solar charge to power the AC, and cool the car as it sits ... no more solar oven.) - Mitch