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But like any tiny engine, it can't make enough power for the car to even
"limp" in a useful manner. We'd need all day to charge enough to get you
a few miles at any speed. And it still needs fuel of course. If it WAS
bigger and more powerful we'd be talking about making a hybrid because,
hey, there's already an engine there.

A backup engine would still need to be powerful and have enough weight
and volumetric density to minimize the performance costs of having it
onboard. Actually wankel rotaries are kind of promising for energy
density there. One reason they're not used more often is difficulty in
getting good efficiency but as a back-up engine that may not matter.

Even if the engine were impossibly small, a 20kw generator head is no
small item. If it's not a series hybrid arrangement then you have to
have a transmission which is also heavy and far more complicated.

Danny

gardenyu wrote:
>  
> I was told by people in Argonne lab that nowadays people can make Lithium ion batteries large enough so that they can run the vehicle for 300 miles on highway without recharging. (maybe the Tesla technology)? In such a system where batteries privide average power request, a supplementary sterling engine will be a good option.
>  
> For example, if you forget to recharge the battery in the morning, the engine can at least carry you to a nearby "electric" station.
>  
> But for any big system (fuel cell, lithium batteries, etc), who wants to replace ICE,  there is always a cost and safety problem.
>  
> The energy crisis will be solved by some future chemist, not by engineers, I bet.
>  
>  
>  


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