Electric 914s, what are the numbers? Options

[fiid]

I was talking to mueller a while ago about building turbine engines out of turbo chargers, and he said that that was basically what an aircraft APU (auxillary power unit) does.

Which gets me to wondering. I think it would be really cool to build an electric 914 that is powered by a turbine generator running on CNG.

Is this viable? With Otmar's setup this would be an interesting way to get 1000 ft lbs, but still maintain range. Plus you ought to be able to get access to Californias HOV lanes (either by running CNG or as a hybrid.

What kind of power output can you get from a small turbine generator?

[bondo]

Hehe, I've thought about this (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) The problem seems to be a combination of eficiency of energy conversion, and weight.

Turbines aren't that heavy, but the generators often are.. even if you get a light one, you will still need a battery pack because turbines don't like varying loads. So you basically have an electric car (already pretty heavy unless you have VERY expensive batteries) and then you add a turbine, a generator, all the charging/regulating electronics, and a fuel tank of some sort. In the end you basically have a locomotive (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

The energy conversion problem applies to all series hybrids. You convert the chemical energy in the fuel to mechanical energy (turbine) then to electrical energy (generator) then to chemical (battery) then to electrical (battery) then to mechanical (motor). In the end you only get a small percentage of the fuel energy as mechanical energy. That is why all the commercial hybrids are parallel hybrids (both the engine and electric motor are mechanically coupled to the wheels)