By: Dean Kamen Develops World’s First Stirling Hybrid Electric Car « The KeelyNet Blog

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 22:37:23 +0000

[...] Posted by keelynet on November 22, 2008 A Stirling powered car, great idea! “The prototype vehicle, a zippy two-seat hatchback designed with more than a passing resemblance to the Volkswagen Beetle, can go about 60 miles on a single charge of its lithium battery and with practically zero emissions. Installed in the car’s trunk compartment is a Stirling engine invented at DEKA, Kamen’s technology company in the Manchester Millyard. It powers the features that would normally drain huge power from the battery, notably the defroster and heater. That leaves the battery primarily for propulsion. “You’re running a pure electric, which is enormously cheaper to operate and enormously more environmentally friendly,” Kamen explained. And if the battery does run low, the Stirling can recharge it, so you’ll never get stranded, he said. That’s why Kamen calls his Stirling engine “an insurance policy” for the electric car. He ticks off the advantages of the Stirling engine as a backup system: It can use any fuel, from biodiesel to natural gas; it burns clean; it can even be programmed to turn on so the battery and car are all warmed up by the time you get in. Kamen hopes his car could be in production within two years. He doesn’t know how much it would cost, but the goal is to make it affordable for average consumers, he said.” – Source [...]

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By: Dean Kamen Develops World’s First Stirling Hybrid Electric Car « The KeelyNet Blog