Stevei3
Well-known member
Hi guys,
maybe interesting: while browsing through BMW's dutch forum, I discovered that a couple of Dutch tinkerers are developing a different approach to generating electricity from gas. See: http://www.star-engines.com/en
It's main feature seems to be a 'free' rotating 3d Wankel-like system, but they are sparse on details. My guess is that the actual electricity is generated much like Toyota's free piston generator prototype.
It looks small and light (23 kg) and *should* be able to generate 10kWh in under an hour on 5 litre of diesel (according to Bright.nl online magazine). Not particularly efficient, and not enough to keep you flowing with traffic with a <6% battery, but if they can manage to keep the number of parts in check (think cooling) and can manage to make it last and emission-compliant, who knows, maybe a scaled up version is feasible for a next generation serial hybrid.
Still, while having attracted serious investors, it's vapourware to me for the time being: let's see it first. And it remains questionable, in the case of the portable Jerr.e, if it is wise and/or practical to carry along a generator and diesel fuel in the frunk or the boot.
Like stated before by some (including me), the current implementation of i3's REx as a generator is actually quite good. Yes, it is a bit noisy when travelling slow, perhaps overcomplicated and a tad on the heavy side, but it delivers a better efficiency than is likely to be expected form something as the Jerr.e, while trying to polute the environment as little as possible because if its Euro-6 engine.
Still, my take on Jerr.e: I'm sure that electric power generating engines can be optimized to a huge degree, so let's see what can be done !
Regards, Steven
maybe interesting: while browsing through BMW's dutch forum, I discovered that a couple of Dutch tinkerers are developing a different approach to generating electricity from gas. See: http://www.star-engines.com/en
It's main feature seems to be a 'free' rotating 3d Wankel-like system, but they are sparse on details. My guess is that the actual electricity is generated much like Toyota's free piston generator prototype.
It looks small and light (23 kg) and *should* be able to generate 10kWh in under an hour on 5 litre of diesel (according to Bright.nl online magazine). Not particularly efficient, and not enough to keep you flowing with traffic with a <6% battery, but if they can manage to keep the number of parts in check (think cooling) and can manage to make it last and emission-compliant, who knows, maybe a scaled up version is feasible for a next generation serial hybrid.
Still, while having attracted serious investors, it's vapourware to me for the time being: let's see it first. And it remains questionable, in the case of the portable Jerr.e, if it is wise and/or practical to carry along a generator and diesel fuel in the frunk or the boot.
Like stated before by some (including me), the current implementation of i3's REx as a generator is actually quite good. Yes, it is a bit noisy when travelling slow, perhaps overcomplicated and a tad on the heavy side, but it delivers a better efficiency than is likely to be expected form something as the Jerr.e, while trying to polute the environment as little as possible because if its Euro-6 engine.
Still, my take on Jerr.e: I'm sure that electric power generating engines can be optimized to a huge degree, so let's see what can be done !
Regards, Steven
