Jaguar's Hybrid Jet-Powered Concept Car 334
An anonymous reader writes "Jaguar has developed a hybrid car that runs on gas turbines. The range extended vehicle usually uses four electric motors (one on each wheel) plus a lithium-ion battery pack for propulsion, but can achieve a performance boost from a pair of gas turbines mounted in the rear. Cnet UK reports the car can do 0-60 mph in 3.4 sec. (and 50-90 mph in 2.3 sec.) and reach 205 mph while emitting less CO2 than a Toyota Prius."
A step in a right direction (Score:4, Insightful)
THe 'early adopters' in car's world, the afficcinados, like Jeremy Clarkson will not go for a boring hybrid unless it gives them better thrill than a conventional gas guzzling supercar.
If this car is really fun to drive, it will be in demand, the markup on luxury is usually quite high, which means there's budget to develop something more mainstream with similar tech...
Re:What about noise pollution? (Score:4, Insightful)
You and I sir must have a different opinion of how freaking awesome a jet engine sounds.
Re:The problem with safety systems like that (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:The problem with safety systems like that (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:A step in a right direction (Score:3, Insightful)
Actually there's nothing "funny" or ironic about it at all (I hate it when people say things like that). In most cases technologies that can make a car perform better, often with no efficiency gain or even at the cost of efficiency, can make a car more efficient if applied differently. Even in areas like handling that would seem to have no application on the street. If you could take highway ramps at full highway speed you wouldn't have to waste a load of energy by slowing down - of course it wouldn't be comfortable for the passengers.
So the technologies that translate most quickly and directly from race cars to boring street sedans (even the slightly sporty-looking ones they still call "sports cars") are in the powertrain and aerodynamics areas.
Re:The problem with safety systems like that (Score:3, Insightful)
"I think if a car that was moving that fast being propelled by four independent motors suddenly found itself being propelled by thrust that was no longer balanced and centered -- I wouldn't want to be down range for quite some distance."
How is that different than having one motor and computer-controlled multi-wheel drive and braking systems?
Re:A step in a right direction (Score:3, Insightful)
so it is very much like computers isn't it? nothing you see in the desktop (the powerhouse equivalent of a racecar) makes it to a laptop (the consumer model)
that processor you see in the desktop? no, that takes too much power the battery in the laptop could never handle it. that awesome video card in the desktop? no, that runs too hot, the laptop would overheat. well how about that harddrive? too big, there isn't space to put it in the laptop.
Just because the parts aren't able to move directly from the desktop to the laptop doesn't mean that desktop technology doesn't contribute anything to a laptop, or in your example race car to commercial car. yes they do need to put extra work into it to convert some of the technologies, they need to extend the lifetime of the part, reduce the heat, or miniaturize it, but that doesn't mean that they didn't learn anything when they developed it for the high performance system first.
Re:What about noise pollution? (Score:4, Insightful)
And you must never have worked on a flightline or have any idea how loud a B-52 or a C-5A is.
I'm hoping the Jaguar car uses slightly smaller engines than those gargantuan military aircraft.
Re:Abrams A1 Tank (Score:3, Insightful)
1) It uses gas. (and everything else uses diesel, so you have to carry another thing around logistically)
Completely wrong. Like most other gas turbine engines, it can run on just about anything. It can run on gasoline, diesel, or any blend of kerosene. The US Army runs theirs on JP-8, jet fuel, as that simplifies their logistics. The Australian Army runs theirs on diesel, as that simplifies their logistics.
4) It is really LOUD. (considering its a tank, that's sayin' something!)
From what I've heard, it's actually surprisingly quiet. The loudest thing you hear is the noise of its tracks, rather than the diesel engines of traditional armored vehicles.
however you're still dependent on oil, so I see this as a complicated confusing step backwards.
No, you are dependent on combustible fuel. You can run a gas turbine on just about anything that is fluid and burns. This can be traditional petroleum based fuels, methane, coal gas. The only thing you have to worry about is fuel with hard particulate, as that will tear up the hot section.
Re:A step in a right direction (Score:3, Insightful)
Nope, never. Except for:
Electronic ignition ...
Electronically-controlled fuel injection
Rack-and-pinion steering
Disk brakes
Electric radiator fans
Variable valve timing
Radial tires
And about everything else that is now considered "normal" on a car
Re:Very Cool (Score:2, Insightful)
Sounds funny, but at that speed uptight Germans in Passat Diesels will pass you on your left, while nervously trying to explain through signs that your engine is kaputt.