Just keep in mind all the internal combustion engine is is a portable electricity generator.
In the electricity generation field there has been a massive push in combined cycle and cogeneration plants. All these plants do is recover wasted energy in other locations.
This is the same principle as how a hybrid car operates (although different methods) and I would be really surprised if all Toyota cars weren't using some form of hybridisation by 2012.
Hybrid cars don't mean you don't have the power of a regular engine (although it will mean smaller engines) it just means more efficient operation of the existing internal combustion engine.
It doesn't matter how efficiently you design a combustion chamber hybrids are all about recovering energy you can't otherwise recover and becoming more efficient still.
Of course the weight of the components and the mechanisms used to reclaim that energy will take a small hit on the over-all effiency of the vehicle as well. The Hond Civic HX uses a CVT transmission and 'recycles' exhaust much to the same effect. It would be nice if Honda mated these technologies together, but of course they haven't, because every manufacturer is still quite interested in making gas-powered guzzlers.
One thought that occured to me, and I'm sure someone with real knowledge has at least thought of it, is that a turbo spins pretty fast, up to 120K rpm! Now we typically use this exhaust gas to spin a compressor that rams more air into the intake than would b possible under normal operation. What if the turbo instead used the velocity of exhaust gases to spin a generator? That could reclaim quite a bit of otherwise wasted energy, iThink. Though there might be other problems associated with back-pressure that have to be overcome. I dunno? just a thought...
<strong>It will.They are going to start hitting the market in the next year or two.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Just because something is on the market doesn't mean it will be successful. There are a number of solar technologies (for homes) that are quite mature now that still haven't achieved significant market penetration.
Same holds true for hybrid automobiles. Toyota will find a way to make this happen if it gives them a competitive advantage. If it doesn't, it won't happen. Fuel economy is all well and good but when people are shopping for a car it's only one consideration among many .
Just because something is on the market doesn't mean it will be successful. There are a number of solar technologies (for homes) that are quite mature now that still haven't achieved significant market penetration.
Same holds true for hybrid automobiles. Toyota will find a way to make this happen if it gives them a competitive advantage. If it doesn't, it won't happen. Fuel economy is all well and good but when people are shopping for a car it's only one consideration among many .</strong><hr></blockquote>
That's because electricity is dirt cheap. Unless you are in a remote location, are a super-green, or the electric company starts charging 3 times what it does now, people won't move to these types of personal solar panels. I think Solar panels need to be adopted on an infrastructure scale to be of any real use.
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In the electricity generation field there has been a massive push in combined cycle and cogeneration plants. All these plants do is recover wasted energy in other locations.
This is the same principle as how a hybrid car operates (although different methods) and I would be really surprised if all Toyota cars weren't using some form of hybridisation by 2012.
Hybrid cars don't mean you don't have the power of a regular engine (although it will mean smaller engines) it just means more efficient operation of the existing internal combustion engine.
It doesn't matter how efficiently you design a combustion chamber hybrids are all about recovering energy you can't otherwise recover and becoming more efficient still.
<strong>It will.They are going to start hitting the market in the next year or two.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Just because something is on the market doesn't mean it will be successful. There are a number of solar technologies (for homes) that are quite mature now that still haven't achieved significant market penetration.
Same holds true for hybrid automobiles. Toyota will find a way to make this happen if it gives them a competitive advantage. If it doesn't, it won't happen. Fuel economy is all well and good but when people are shopping for a car it's only one consideration among many .
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Just because something is on the market doesn't mean it will be successful. There are a number of solar technologies (for homes) that are quite mature now that still haven't achieved significant market penetration.
Same holds true for hybrid automobiles. Toyota will find a way to make this happen if it gives them a competitive advantage. If it doesn't, it won't happen. Fuel economy is all well and good but when people are shopping for a car it's only one consideration among many .</strong><hr></blockquote>
That's because electricity is dirt cheap. Unless you are in a remote location, are a super-green, or the electric company starts charging 3 times what it does now, people won't move to these types of personal solar panels. I think Solar panels need to be adopted on an infrastructure scale to be of any real use.