There is definitely some truth to that. For example, why there are no diesel-hybrids available? With such a configuration, one could potentially benefit from the best of both worlds: excellent highway mileage from a diesel powertrain and efficient city low-emission driving on electric motors. Thinking about that I accepted the fact that we do not live in a perfect world, rational decisions our leaders should be making are flawed by politics, agendas, corruption, lobby etc. So let's just hope that common sense will prevail at some point...
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Originally Posted by Efthreeoh
Correct, but that's an internal combustion engine that needs a wide powerband and connected to a transmission so it can offer a wide variety of speeds. So the engine loses efficiency thru heat loss and transmission losses.
Take the IC engine out of the mechanical effort to generate propulsion and make the engine differently, to be tuned to lose less heat, and have it connected to just an on-board electrical generator. Make the engine much lighter out of higher temperature materials like ceramic. Add in a small battery for peak energy requirements and excess load capture. Up the efficiency of the chemical combustion and decrease the parasitic loss of moving electricity over hundreds of miles and several transformer step downs/step ups to charge a huge, heavy battery. Say, make the electicty move thru wires for just a few feet with virtually zero energy loss. THAT system is 80% efficient too, maybe more.
That vehicle still uses gasoline, or diesel, or bio-fuel diesel; it doesn't disrupt the petrochemical industry and doesn't disrupt the electrical energy grid, and reduces mining pollution and the conflict minerals trade. It keeps jet fuel, heating oil, gasoline and diesel prices in check. Vastly extends the Earth's remaing oil reserves (if you believe they are finite).
THAT is the smart approach and easily accomplished before 2035...
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