3 ms·

Well the perfection of a steam-powered car was interesting even though technically far too late to matter. Early steam cars were more like steam trains: big boi

Well the perfection of a steam-powered car was interesting even though technically far too late to matter. Early steam cars were more like steam trains: big boilers that need to be fired an hour before you want to go anywhere and need regular stops to take on water. In a Doble there technically isn't a boiler as most people think of it; the modern equivalent term might be "steam generator". The Doble system flashes water to steam almost instantly and on-demand, then uses a condenser to recycle the water. The flame is also not burning continuously, but only when steam is needed. With modern insulation materials the firebox is very efficient with little heat loss and lasts a long time. This gives the Doble steam car a responsiveness closer to a gas engine, without the need to pre-heat the boiler or continuously refill with water. The fuel system is more flexible too, it can operate on almost any liquid combustible with some adjustment. By the time the Doble was developed it was too late; gasoline and diesel won.

jcgrillo 3y ago
Part of the problem I think was that each Doble car was basically a one-off. They were expensive, high performance prototypes, not production consumer products. In principle they could have been made more user friendly--in terms of performance specs they were really close to a win (15mpg, powerful, quiet, low water consumption, fast starting) but they were still finicky, high maintenance machines. Higher production numbers could have driven solutions, but the Otto cycle had the advantage there. I wonder if you ran the 1890-1930 experiment 10 times how differently it all might shake out each time.
- TylerE 3y ago
  The part almost no one talks about is how there are tons of cars being sold as early as 1880. They were just called horseless carriages, and were essentially a small carriage with… an electric motor and batteries. Yup, the original dominant form of car was an EV.

jcgrillo 3y ago

Part of the problem I think was that each Doble car was basically a one-off. They were expensive, high performance prototypes, not production consumer products. In principle they could have been made more user friendly--in terms of performance specs they were really close to a win (15mpg, powerful, quiet, low water consumption, fast starting) but they were still finicky, high maintenance machines. Higher production numbers could have driven solutions, but the Otto cycle had the advantage there. I wonder if you ran the 1890-1930 experiment 10 times how differently it all might shake out each time.

TylerE 3y ago
The part almost no one talks about is how there are tons of cars being sold as early as 1880. They were just called horseless carriages, and were essentially a small carriage with… an electric motor and batteries. Yup, the original dominant form of car was an EV.