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I know this is targeted towards military/aviation applications (now, initially it was different), but, I honestly cannot understand why there is so little resea

I know this is targeted towards military/aviation applications (now, initially it was different), but, I honestly cannot understand why there is so little research on just making a hyper-efficient low-maintenance engine that runs at maybe 2 optimal rpms and powers a small battery bank plus electric motor (i.e.. typically series hybrid). None of these gas engines will come anywhere near the power-per-pound & torque output of a electric motor. If traditional carmakers had done that research about 10 years ago they wouldn't be facing such crisis with EVs today. a high-efficiency multi-fuel range extender engine is all we need today but still I cant find many automakers jumping on it. PS: it would have been nice to see a micro-turbine based generator with high thermodynamic efficiency but my understanding is that need a lot of maintenance so not suitable for consumer applications.

driverdan 4y ago
One of the reasons is government regulation. I'll talk about US regulation but similar situations exist in other countries. 1. US incentives and regulation result in car manufacturers having to shift production from hybrids to EVs. 2. In order to qualify as an EV a vehicle can't have a range extending ICE that provides more than a 50% range increase. There's also a very low limit to the size of the fuel tank. These regulations have resulted in very few vehicles with ICE range extenders. Existing engines are easily capable of maxing out that regulation so there's no incentive to research other engines.
- DesiLurker 4y ago
  US incentives aside, Nothing was stopping them from doing this for more expensive vehicles even if they didn't care about environment. I mean wouldn't you want to have a pickup truck with acceleration & torque of an EV with 2+1 motors powered by series hybrid and also have fuel economy of a 40mpg in city? I think its just institutional laziness & innovators dilemma. Even in last 5 years when it was clear Tesla is starting to rise they decided to sit on their hands and do nothing. Even till last year toyota has been singing BS about hydrogen cars and not enough lithium. they deserve whats coming to them.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
tda 4y ago
Are you aware you are essentially describing the original Toyota Prius? the engine is optimised for constant low rpm/low torque/high efficiency, whilest relying on the battery/electric motor for torque and temporary extra power
- Tade0 4y ago
  Actually it just keeps the engine at/close to minimal brake-specific fuel consumption: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brake-specific_fuel_consumption https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brake-specific_fuel_consumpt... Which covers a range of RPMs.
- DesiLurker 4y ago
  yes I am well aware of Prius series configuration but it is still a regular engine shrunk down and fine tuned. What I am asking for is something very ground up redesigned for maximizing one thing only efficiency of energy conversion. couple of examples of this are Aquarius engines or [1]. basically you cut out all the unnecessary stuff and all the maintenance/repair plus cost with it. Current engines are complex because they are operating over a large range or rpms and optimizing for other factors like torque etc. the you have losses in mechanical power transfer at each stage. Cut that all out and make something thats super easy to manufacture & replace and you have added another 50 years to ICE. 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4b0_6byuFU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4b0_6byuFU
  - MichaelZuo 4y ago
    And how will the tens of billions in R&D cost, reconfiguring the supply chain, service network investments, etc., be amortized?
    - DesiLurker 4y ago
      Last I checked toyota's market cap was 220B+, they have been burning cash on Hydrogen fuel cell BS for a decade plus. that costs money too. BTW if a startup like Aquarious & some research center in UK can do it then so can they. all the rest of expenses come later when technology is promising & starts deploying. But thats when market also rewards you for innovation & not just maintaining you P/E ratios & EBITDA margins. That is essentially what tesla did. The sad thing is that hybrids now have existed for 2 decades+ but they chose not to scale up any hybrid production beyond compliance cars. Basically they are Kodak-ing their way out of existence if Stanford professor Tony Seba is to be believed.
raizer88 4y ago
Check the new mx-30 r-ev from mazda. It's a wenkel engine that power a battery pack.

driverdan 4y ago

One of the reasons is government regulation. I'll talk about US regulation but similar situations exist in other countries. 1. US incentives and regulation result in car manufacturers having to shift production from hybrids to EVs. 2. In order to qualify as an EV a vehicle can't have a range extending ICE that provides more than a 50% range increase. There's also a very low limit to the size of the fuel tank. These regulations have resulted in very few vehicles with ICE range extenders. Existing engines are easily capable of maxing out that regulation so there's no incentive to research other engines.

DesiLurker 4y ago
US incentives aside, Nothing was stopping them from doing this for more expensive vehicles even if they didn't care about environment. I mean wouldn't you want to have a pickup truck with acceleration & torque of an EV with 2+1 motors powered by series hybrid and also have fuel economy of a 40mpg in city? I think its just institutional laziness & innovators dilemma. Even in last 5 years when it was clear Tesla is starting to rise they decided to sit on their hands and do nothing. Even till last year toyota has been singing BS about hydrogen cars and not enough lithium. they deserve whats coming to them.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

tda 4y ago

Are you aware you are essentially describing the original Toyota Prius? the engine is optimised for constant low rpm/low torque/high efficiency, whilest relying on the battery/electric motor for torque and temporary extra power

Tade0 4y ago
Actually it just keeps the engine at/close to minimal brake-specific fuel consumption: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brake-specific_fuel_consumption https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brake-specific_fuel_consumpt... Which covers a range of RPMs.
DesiLurker 4y ago
yes I am well aware of Prius series configuration but it is still a regular engine shrunk down and fine tuned. What I am asking for is something very ground up redesigned for maximizing one thing only efficiency of energy conversion. couple of examples of this are Aquarius engines or [1]. basically you cut out all the unnecessary stuff and all the maintenance/repair plus cost with it. Current engines are complex because they are operating over a large range or rpms and optimizing for other factors like torque etc. the you have losses in mechanical power transfer at each stage. Cut that all out and make something thats super easy to manufacture & replace and you have added another 50 years to ICE. 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4b0_6byuFU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4b0_6byuFU
- MichaelZuo 4y ago
  And how will the tens of billions in R&D cost, reconfiguring the supply chain, service network investments, etc., be amortized?
  - DesiLurker 4y ago
    Last I checked toyota's market cap was 220B+, they have been burning cash on Hydrogen fuel cell BS for a decade plus. that costs money too. BTW if a startup like Aquarious & some research center in UK can do it then so can they. all the rest of expenses come later when technology is promising & starts deploying. But thats when market also rewards you for innovation & not just maintaining you P/E ratios & EBITDA margins. That is essentially what tesla did. The sad thing is that hybrids now have existed for 2 decades+ but they chose not to scale up any hybrid production beyond compliance cars. Basically they are Kodak-ing their way out of existence if Stanford professor Tony Seba is to be believed.

raizer88 4y ago

Check the new mx-30 r-ev from mazda. It's a wenkel engine that power a battery pack.