Check out the Sterlic 1, GM's 1969,, 84 mpg hybrid with a Sterling powered generator.

[madokie]

In 1969 GM introduced to the world through its Opel division the Stirlec1, an experimental prototype conversion of its most popular European vehicle. It was equipped with a Stirling engine and an electric drive train, what we now call a series hybrid. It was said to be able to get 84 miles to the gallon and produce minimal emissions. You don’t have to believe me you can see it for yourself.See

http://www.evworld.com/blogs/index.cfm?page=blogentry&authorid=46&blogid=113&archive=1

[Pab Sungenis]

1. Wow.

If we had hybrid technology 37 years ago, then why is Detroit so far behind Japan, and demand from "the free market" for fuel efficient vehicles?

(Breaks out copy of "Who Killed The Electric Car?" again.)

Oh, that's why.

[madokie]

3. what a shame that we've allowed for years to be manipulated by the car companys

I was so disillusioned when I first watched, who killed the electric car. the next cold wet day when I can't do anything else I need to curl up around that movie and watch it again.

[JohnWxy]

19. Auto manufacturers 73% to 64% contributions to Repubs since 1996. a good investment.

http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.asp?Ind=T2100

[Deja Q]

2. K&R

[Blackhatjack]

4. While GM is facing financial ruin with its current cars, it could be selling these ....

What could possibly be the logical reason for not developing this concept and putting it into production?

Hmmmmm.....

[madokie]

5. collusion with the oil barons I think.

[hootinholler]

17. The same triumverate that killed our rail system?

Perhaps? Standard oil, GM and a tire company that I can't remember.

-Hoot

[Iwasthere]

6. Someone needs to get that ad rerun in papers across the country

Perhaps the USA Today. Perhaps it could be done as a classified "For sale, old car ad", then blown up huge 1/4 or 1/2 page. This way GM wouldn't have a say.

[madokie]

7. I remember when I was in high school, mid 60's, I worked in a gas station

and my boss was telling me about the coming fuel crisis, a man made crisis not a supply one too. In hindsight I remember the man as a genius but I was too dumb and full of it that I didn't realize it at the time. sigh

[glitch]

8. Good article, thanks for posting. Who Killed the Electric Car is well worth renting too.

K & R :mad:

[madokie]

9. I have a copy and have watched it twice

and I get po'ed each time too. it brings to light the underhanded bullshit that has been going on for a long time. I wish everyone would see it at least once.

[IDemo]

10. Book recommendation for those interested in Stirlings

The Next Great Thing: The Sun, the Stirling Engine, and the Drive to Change the World
Mark L. Shelton

From Publishers Weekly
Sunpower Inc., founded in 1970 by William J. Beale, is a bootstrap engineering research company with a Holy Grail mission: to harness Stirling heat engine technology to applications that could save the world from carbon fuel pollution and could eliminate ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons from the atmosphere. In Shelton's lively account, Beale and his fellow engineers in Athens, Ohio, attempt to rob the second law of thermodynamics to give the world nearly free energy for basic heating, cooling and pumping operations. Also joining Beale, who emerges as a sort of second generation Buckminster Fuller, are the company's machinists and support staff--all dedicated to the cause and the process of their R & D effort. In this depiction of Sunpower's research and its ever more time absorbing and not always productive search for funding, freelancer Shelton captures the sheer sense of joy that powers these workers at technological frontiers and proves himself a technology writer on a par with Tracy Kidder.

-- It's been several years since I read this. It provides those unfamiliar with what a Stirling engine is and how it operates with an excellent introduction, along with the difficulties engineers face in trying to extract more power from a deceptively simple design first introduced 200 years ago. Highly recommended.

[madokie]

11. been interested in sterlngs for years

I remember building one when I was a kid using cans, some wire a few staples and a board. thats been over 5o years ago now though

[Morgana LaFey]

12. Heartbreaking -- on SO many different levels

:cry:

[madokie]

13. it sems to me its the power of or maybe just the love of money at the root of it all

I'll go to my grave with knowing I did not ever, fall in love with money and I'm still able today to have a smile on my face too.

smiling=happy

[Gregorian]

14. External combustion. It's still governed by the second law of thermodynamics.

But it is funny to see how quaint 1969 was. Just look at the size of that inverter!

It's still combustion. But it can burn on things other than gasoline. Old shoes, logs, and anything else that will light on fire.

Unfortunately it requires burning something at a higher temperature, getting work out of the system, and rejecting heat to a lower temperature. And I don't think we've worked out how to do that without creating carbon dioxide.

The problem, once again for those who aren't sick of me, is the number of people who want to get around on wheels, by using combustion. I wish we could address the real issue and not the symptoms. But our precious right to breed seems to be sacred and unmentionable.

Whether it's all electric, Stirling, internal combustion, it has to get it's energy somewhere. Solar would be nice. Nuclear is unclear. And combustion is combustion.

I think I've worn out my welcome.

[madokie]

16. ah heck, check your bearings and stuff and if they're fine you should be good to go

you never know you just may be the one to add the perspective that makes it all work ;-)

[Porcupine]

21. A stirling hybrid could run on ethanol, methanol, biodiesel.....

whatever fuel that you can cook up regionally. Like a water heater all you would need to change would be the gas ports to get the right size for optimum combustion. All the other parts remain the same regardless of the local fuel source.

Even if we eliminate ALL private vehicles (which I advocate) we will need service vehicles to move goods and tools. A stirling series-hybrid would be ideal for many jobs where the vehicle drives 1/2 of it's route empty but needs power for delivery.

A lumber delivery truck for instance needs only enough battery power to get it to the load site and halfway back. The genset would keep it from being stranded by running the whole time.

Don't worry about population. The Russians have proved that ecological damage solves that problem on its own. Climate change will kill billions before we have effective mitigation. Starting with the Bangledeshi's.

[skids]

22. wood... :-)

No but seriously this is really interesting stuff, from a techno-history perspective. Thanks for posting.

BTW, the MIT folks think they are going to get thermophotovoltaics up into the 25%+ efficiency range with the new systems that use nanotech-tuned emitters and selective optic filters. Funny thing there -- You can't really use "waste heat" from a well built heat-engine, because it needs a cold sink or it doesn't produce power, so the cold side has to be cooled off as fast as possible at the right point in the cycle and anything obstructing that flow kills the engine efficiency. You *can* however use waste heat from a thermophotovoltaic generator, because the only reason to cool it is so the components don't melt, and they operate at fairly high temperatures, like high enough to run a stirling or a solid-state TEG off of... so one wonders what the combined system efficiency might be along with the new generation of stirlings/TEGs/thermoacoustics.

Right now they are only looking to use the TPV units as a better alternator, but who knows, we could have a completely solid state "external combustion" engine more efficient than the ICE in a decade or so. Hopefully we'll be using electrical storage by then, but the science is interesting nonetheless.

[gravity]

15. Was there a working prototype of the car?

It just seems too good to be true

[ORDagnabbit]

18. we dont get the best technology in this corporate world

we get the technology that gets the best profits for the corporation

[DianaForRussFeingold]

20. K&R

:yourock: