Re: Highlander Hybrid 2006

"The beneVolent dbu" <relaxand@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:relaxand-A63830.16033024012006@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> In article <1nidncB0bq7aFUveUSdV9g@xxxxxxx>,
> "Mike Hunter" <mikehunt2@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > $3,000 will buy enough gas to run a Corolla for around three years. ;)
> >
> > mike hunt
>
> That is if there is enough gas to buy.
>
> I'm hoping they'll come up with a better system than batteries. Fuel
> cells perhaps. Of course Mike you and I won't have to worry much about
> gas supplies in our lifetime, there should be plenty, but it will get
> more expensive as time goes on.
>

If you're suggesting fuel cells as a storage medium to replace the batteries
in a hybrid, I think that's been looked at and thought not to work very
well. Slow charge/discharge rates, I think, limit their usefulness. Over
time, they may improve enough to make this work out. Also, at present, I
don't believe any fuel cells are "chargeable," they all consume their fuel
and then are dead until you add more fuel.

Some years ago, there was discussion of using flywheels to store energy
(we're talking about Popular Science or something back in 1968 or so, mind
you). The proposal I remember was to just spin up the flywheel in the
garage at home, siphon energy off it in the form of electricity to get going
and then use regenerative braking to put energy back into it when braking.
I'd guess that wasn't feasible, either, but I don't know why. If you spin
them fast enough, they needn't be all that heavy. I don't know if anyone
looked at using them in hybrids but I'd guess somebody would have thought
about it. You'd use a smaller one for temporary needs, only. Maybe it's
tough to build a system around them for "charging" and "discharging" them.

Batteries that were only incrementally more capable would have a very
beneficial impact on hybrid performance, either by reducing vehicle weight,
increased power with better charge/discharge rates or more storage and
ability to power most trips off the electricity grid (and then nukes could
supply a lot of your daily driving energy needs). Maybe hybrid manufacturers
are going with batteries because improvements in either engine technology or
battery performance will be easier to engineer in using the basic designs
they've got.



.

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