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Toyota has advanced engine efficiency dramatically topping 40% using design changes and having many functions electronically controlled. Semis not only played a key role in the engine itself, but designing it. Mazda has also come up with a diesel cycle gas engine that tops 50% efficiency. Using very sophisticated processors, sensors, mems at every stage of the development process to the final product are part of the "Great Acceleration" the semi/nanotech revolution is driving at ever greater speed. This is not a high cost, specialty engine, but will be going into the 2019 Corolla. The same is true of the new Mazda compression ignition engine. This is just but one of literally thousands of growth areas for semis/nanotechnology of all types. The semi industry is creating new/expanding markets at an accelerating rate providing a bright future for itself and mankind. The number of growth areas and markets being created are literally to many to list in a single forum and these are just a very small example of what is yet to come. Literally almost every company in every field will be either a tech company or customers of tech companies in the very near future if not already.
I found this interesting article on how tech is also dramatically improving emissions and efficiency of the diesel engine and it being put to use in major fleets
Everything and every company are becoming high tech as the semi/nanotech world become the very fabric of almost everything from creation to application.
battery will rule the ordinary car market. We will get to about double the energy per weight in 10 years or so, at which point you can have a 50kWh battery in a 1 ton car instead of 75kWh in 2 tons, and it will be game over for everyday vehicles. The real use for the semi technology is going to be the autonomous driving, the sensors, and the connectivity, as well as the control systems. And many more folks will use some form of sharing since autonomous vehicles, with zero need for a chauffeur, are most cost effective that way. Even if the average vehicle is shared only by two people per day that will be a significant economic change.
The other key will need to be huge changes in the electricity distribution system. Not just the big things like DC long distance transmission, but also a proliferation of low rate charge points so that vehicles not on the road can soak up power pretty much anywhere. Especially at work, where vehicles could use solar power, but generally on an intelligent schedule matching predictions of grid capacity.
I think the ideal solution will be a series hybrid where the engine is built to run highly efficiently at one RPM and is small, quiet and isolated from the rest of the car. Just a twenty horsepower auxiliary power unit could be a real range extender if operated continuously or a charger when none is available. Based on the cost of generators and if this was put in every car of a certain model this would add less than a thousand dollars to the cost. This would give the best of both worlds.
I think the ideal solution will be a series hybrid where the engine is built to run highly efficiently at one RPM and is small, quiet and isolated from the rest of the car. Just a twenty horsepower auxiliary power unit could be a real range extender if operated continuously or a charger when none is available. Based on the cost of generators and if this was put in every car of a certain model this would add less than a thousand dollars to the cost. This would give the best of both worlds.
I agree this might seem like an ideal solution, but the problem will be the cost -- reliable long-life generators that don't need lots of maintenance and oil changes cost way more than the figure you quoted, and would add a large chunk to the cost of a car.
I think you described a BMW i3 with "range extender"? Perhaps the ideal would be a compact high efficiency turbine, if it could be low maintenance. Complexity will be a big deal in the long run. As electric cars become pervasive the availability of charging, if you need to range far from home, will be so common that the range extender is redundant. With a 260 mile range when I had my S I only needed the superchargers 4 or 5 times a year. There are twice as many superchargers now as back then, making it even easier to plan a long trip anywhere. Each morning when you leave home "the tank is full", it is a different perspective.
Folks I know with 100 mile range vehicles are much more concerned. I think 200 miles is definitely the transition point for most people. 50kWh in a 1 ton car would be around a 300 mile range.
I think you described a BMW i3 with "range extender"? Perhaps the ideal would be a compact high efficiency turbine, if it could be low maintenance. Complexity will be a big deal in the long run. As electric cars become pervasive the availability of charging, if you need to range far from home, will be so common that the range extender is redundant. With a 260 mile range when I had my S I only needed the superchargers 4 or 5 times a year. There are twice as many superchargers now as back then, making it even easier to plan a long trip anywhere. Each morning when you leave home "the tank is full", it is a different perspective.
Folks I know with 100 mile range vehicles are much more concerned. I think 200 miles is definitely the transition point for most people. 50kWh in a 1 ton car would be around a 300 mile range.
Unfortunately there's no such thing as a "compact high efficiency turbine". Small gas turbines are anyway less efficient than big ones (e.g. in power stations) due to internal gas leakage and size-related heat loss, and unless a CCGT system (adding boiler, steam, condenser...) is used the efficiency is lower than a diesel engine or a CI petrol engine (new Mazda).
Range extenders are a good idea in theory, but in practice they add a lot to cost (and need space, and cooling, and fuel) and in reality the need for such long journeys is small -- for ranges that BEV can do they'll be the best solution, for very long regular journeys a compression-injection petrol engine like the new Mazda one may be the a much cheaper solution. And let's face it, until the cost of the pollution forces them off the roads, most people who want long range will choose this rather than a range-extended hybrid which costs 50% more.
IanD, In mass production, there would be no problem meeting a thousand dollar target. The engine wouldn't even need a crank but be a linear engine with two combustion chambers on each end and just go back and forth with the armature in the middle. Very simple, compact, efficient and cheap. It could also be an OPOC engine at low cost. Being just a fixed speed generator with few controls lowers the cost dramatically.
Based on the cost of generators and if this was put in every car of a certain model this would add less than a thousand dollars to the cost. This would give the best of both worlds. <style type="text/css"><!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--></style>RedtubeBeegSpankbang
