Thought I'd share this story. He's patented the idea and is working on testing. Claims that he can get 54MPG in an F150 or 100MPG in a smaller SUV.

Car runs on electric only and the batteries are continuously recharged by the Stirling engine.

Man builds 100mpg engine using 200-year-old technology | Fox News

Josh "Mac" MacDowell of San Antonio Texas had a brilliant idea. He took a Stirling engine, a type of engine developed 200 years ago, and added some 21st-century technology to it. The result is a hybrid electric car so efficient that you never have to stop to recharge, reports Houston's KHOU11.

The centerpiece of MacDowell's innovation is the Stirling engine, which was created in 1816. The closed-cycle air engine uses the expansion of hot air and the compression of cold air to generate the power needed to drive an engine. Unlike steam engines which utilize a similar principal, the Stirling engine has an internal regenerative heat exchanger that keeps the hot and cold air at the correct temperature. This recycling feature boosts the engine's efficiency to a whopping 50 percent. For comparison, a standard internal combustion engine operates only at 14 percent efficiency.

It runs on gas, not electricity.

 

Here's the article I posted earlier.

 

Old mother earth hybrid trucks using a small diesel usually were around 50+ mpg as well but obviously at lower speeds.

 

Anybody else find it humorous that the very first cars were electric powered, and it's taken over a hundred years to get back to electric powered cars?

 

Jay Leno has shown his circa 1910 all electric and asked "why does this one go farther than a new electric?" Good question.

 

Clicks link...

Fox news...

lol. Yeah sure.

 

"Vision" yourself living back in that time, with the knowledge you have now.

Willie

 

Man the first thing I'd do is patent the gas powered car back then!! :idea:

Shucks, Selden beat me/us to it.

George Selden patents gas-powered car - Nov 05, 1895 - HISTORY.com

 

Hmmmm... Hard to believe a 200 year old engine concept is now being used. It makes me wonder if mankind is really "technologically advancing" as much as we believe we are. We're still trying to figure out how the pyramids were constructed......

I watched the clip on the Stirling Engine. Remarkable if all info is factual. I want a "StirlInsight"!!

 

Hmmmm... Hard to believe a 200 year old engine concept is now being used. It makes me wonder if mankind is really "technologically advancing" as much as we believe we are.

The Stirling engine was ahead of it's time. Just like our cars that were built 10 to 15 years too early. Old technology does not mean it's bad or obsolete.

 

+1. And add to these driving habit facts that 80% (?) of the average US car sits parked nearly 23 hours per day. Capitalizing on these down times for charging is the key to successfully living with EVs. Part of the challenge is that a dedicated parking space with an outlet is almost a necessity. This precludes those who do not have a house/own driveway for the most part. We need to support development of workplace charging, school charging, and apartment charging etc etc initiatives. We are getting there. Wireless induction charging is a technology that could be the leverage to help apartment dwellers get into EVs.

 

One of my dreams is to get a ford ranger or other small pickup thats been converted to an EV with the batteries located under the bed and install a small sterlin or steam engine with a generator. I would use either solar or some stove that I used to burn garbage for heat to power it.

 

why doesn't Honda build one of those cars with stirling engine?

 

Mudder: Please add the Sterling Engine to your Linsight retrofit project...
"SterLinsight" maybe?? Ha (Hopefully you've been able to update your password!!)

 

...Make that S1500