LogFAQs > #955957308

I had an idea for making a turbine-electric car.

A turbine can run on almost any fuel: gasoline, diesel, kerosene, propane, natural gas, alcohol, hydrogen, etc. They are mechanically very simple compared to gas and diesel engines and can produce a great deal of power. But they have an issue with turbine lag; you advance the throttle and there's a short delay while it spools up.

Electric cars are also mechanically very simple, you can eliminate the transmission and drive shaft by putting a motor on each wheel. They can also produce tremendous amounts of torque, and produce zero emissions. But your range is limited by the capacity of the battery, which also has a finite lifespan.

But what if you took a turbine engine and attached it to an electric generator? Then you'd have the best of both worlds. The turbine would run at a constant or near constant speed so turbine lag wouldn't be an issue, you could burn a clean fuel like hydrogen for zero emissions or switch to another fuel like ethanol if that was all that was available, and you wouldn't be limited by the battery range.

---

Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum,
Minutus carborata descendum pantorum.