I forgot to include the idea about some us building  Cars like the lincvolt for the purpose of spreading the Gospel so to speak.I think Chrysler tried to do with with 63 Turbine car I saw at the world fair.I would like to try making one from a 63 t-bird. Also If these cars were to appear at say Events like the Goodguys events and the Charlotte auto fair In September many more people would be exposed to them In person.Like i was when i saw the Turbine Car at the worlds fair in 64 iI've never forgotten the impression it made on me.Many younger Kids might be inspired to  Enter the field.Or pursue enginerring in those directions..
         I've been fooling around with old detroit iron since I was a kid..I 'd love to see more of them around and I think its kind of Disrespecrful to saw things like it a Rich Rock Musicians conspiracy toy. Thanks neil for having the iea and the will and the dream to pursue it..

Chrysler during the 1960's demonstrated a car that would run on almost any liquid that contained some hydrocarbons.........motor oil, hair tonic, perfume, cooking oil, terpintine, etc........it had a turbine for an engine........but it quietly died........i guess because of big oil............

it would be fantastic if the on-board computer could analize the fuel in the tank and adjust the engine controls to operate efficently on that fuel...........naturally there would be only certain fuels that thevehicle could use.......but it would make refuling a lot easier if one could have choices while driving to be able to fill up witrh what's available.

 In a serial hybrid configuration, all that is required of the generator's power source (say Wankel engine) is two states.  Off and On at MAXIMUM efficiency. Depending on electricity storage capacity (say Li-Ion) even spool times can be accommodated (turbine, maybe Wankel).  If a single rotational velocity with a single load is necessary to achieve the max, so be it. That is what low cost intelligent and power electronics are for.

The knock on serial hybrid is the inefficiency of two conversions at high speed - liquid fuel to electricity plus electricity to wheel torque. Toyota Hybrid Synergy Drive addresses this with the power split device.

Well... I don't really have anything technical to offer in terms of the car itself but I think it would be a good idea to promote the car on the Jay Leno show.. i know Jay would be very interested in featuring the car on the show. Also BBC two's Top Gear which is one of the best television programs out there as far car enthusiast are concerned... and it's one of Britons if not one of Europe's most popular shows... I am sure they would love to have the car on there as well and have Neil do a lap on their test track. 

I think these guys are on to something:
http://www.betterplace.com

The battery is charged at a highly efficient green powered station (or at home) so when you need a charge you just pull in to the station and a robot swaps your near dead battery for a new one.

Effectively zero charge time!

You don't own the battery and so as more efficient ones come out the older ones can be recycled from central locations. They are starting this in places where range is not an issue. (Like Hawaii.) There is no reason why everyone in Hawaii should not be using an electric car.

There is nowhere very far to go, gas is f-ing expensive there as it has to be shipped in, and there are large patches of the island that are in constant sunlight. It's a no brainer. (Not to mention geo-thermal.)

But I digress... these guys are smart, and have an excellent plan in place to roll out. Cars can be converted, or built to use the system from the start.

Think about it... just about anything that lasts that has a battery in it has a way to replace it. (Even if you have to return it to the manufacture. Why not make it easy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4evzbL1jPU

So I have a few idea's, I am a bit of a gear head and a cad designer so these are things I have pondered through to some extent.

Turbine electric hybrid,
Turbine engines are much more efficient at converting fuel to energy, and run on many fuel types.
Dodge once proved that turbines could be used in automotive applications but the government pulled the plug at the time (60's or 70's, I cant remember... Mostly cause I wasn't alive) The car had major issues anyway due to a mechanical gearbox and the spool time turbine engines need especially when compounded by mechanical lag.
The basis for my idea is to use four rahter large electric engines, a battery and some capacitors as a buffer (For the time it takes the turbine to spool up) an electric motor would be placed in each wheel well and provide the most sophisticated traction controll by simply metering which motors get the juice when and how much.
In theory it work like this, turbine is idle, you step on the gas pedal, the capacitors/small battery power you unrelentlessly as the turbine spools simultaiiously until the turbine generator has reached a point where it can power the electric engine beyond the point of demand and recharge the batteries, once batteries are recharged the turbine generator will return to "trickle state"... This will work well with regenerative brakes as well.

Fast burn engine,
This idea is a hell of a lot more complex than the last idea so you will have to bear with me as there really is no engine like this in existance.
The theory works like this, there are three hollow screws, one male screw in the center and two female screws on either side, imagine a twin screw blower with two female screws, only the screw direction is reversed... There is an intake port and a "burn chamber port (More on that later)" on the upper right and lower left side of the enigne the screws are housed in as the screws are spinning in oposition to eachother. There are exaust ports and burn chamber ports oposing the intake ports on the oposite side of the engine. If your not lost yet, I will explain the cycle system:
Air fuel mixture is ignited inside the burn chamber, at this time on the right side of the engine the exhaust port is open, the rear burn chamber port is closed the front intake chamber is closed and the front burn chamber port is open allowing the burned gasses to travel through the screws and spin them. At this time the left side of the engine the intake port is open, the front burn chamber port is closed, the exhaust port is closed and the rear burn chamber is open, this causes the left side to supercharge the left burn chamber untill the ports switch... Not sure if this would be fuel efficient, but it sure would be badass!

Exhaust extractor/a way to make a four stroke into a two stroke.
This a simple one, basically you run a backwards turbine off of a gearbox to "suck" all of the exhaust out of a cylinder/wankle ect... If you create enough suction you can produce a powerfull enough vacuume to pull air fuel mixture into your cylinder/wankle ect... Think of this as a backwards supercharger...

Why the hell are intake/exhaust manifold backwards?
So basically this goes back to when we were using carburators, our fuel systems were gravity fed and V8 engines had to have the intake in the center. On an american V8 we like to use cross plane crankshafts, which makes sense since you get a perfect ballance that way (As opose to a flat plane or 180* crankshaft) unfortunately this crates a horrible exhaust system layout and the only way to do it correctly is with the old "Bundle of snakes" like seen on the old GT40's (Sounds soooo good) I propose the with the cost effectiveness of using plastic intake manifolds and since we are using high presure fuel injection systems and that fact that with only one exhaust manifold it will reduce costs... Future V8 engines (If there are going to be anymore) Should have a single properly sorted exhaust system in the valley between the heads and two intake manifolds on either side...

I have thought these things through much more than this but unfortunately lack the patience to get further into detail :P

Thanks for reading,

Seth

My idea is similar to the wind turbine spoiler I was reading about in this ideas section.
Mine is to have a wind turbine similar to the spoiler but have it enclosed at the rear bottom of the vehicle. There would be air induction on each side of the car and possibly on the trunk. As long as the vehicle was moving this would be an independent power source for the batteries.

First, this is not my idea, but it is one that ALL innovators must become aware of because it is a game changer. Please visit this website:

https://lasers.llnl.gov/

It is the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. They are working on a new technology called laser fusion. This is not science fiction. They will fire up and test the first one this year. What they are creating is an actual star in a controlled environment.  Here is a bit from the site:
 

"NIF's 192 giant lasers, housed in a ten-story building the size of three football fields, will deliver at least 60 times more energy than any previous laser system. When all of its beams are operational, NIF will focus about two million joules of ultraviolet laser energy on a tiny target in the center of its target chamber – creating conditions similar to those that exist only in the cores of stars and giant planets and inside a nuclear weapon."
 

Laser Fusion generators could be on-line within 10 years and powering the planet in 25. Coal will go away and not be a factor anymore, as will most fossil fuels. This will require much political will and a revolution that will be powered by this generation.

The power grid will need to be updated in order to recharge all-electric cars in 5 minutes or less. (Not everyone will be able to recharge them at home.) Chargers in business parking lots/garages should be subsidized. This will cost about $2,000,000,000,000, that's 2 Trillion dollars.

This can be accomplished by A.) Increase cafe to 75 MPG by 2015, and B.) Add a tax of $1.50 to every gallon of gas. I would add 50 cents a year for 3 years. I know, that seems like a hard one, but we will be better off in the long run. and in just a few years it would all even out. 25 MPG at $2.00 a gallon is a lot more than 75 MPG at $3.50 a gallon, and in the mean time we are putting thousands of people to work building recharging stations and a new electrical power grid.

We must get ready for the future now. We are only going to have this opportunity for a few short years. It's like your driving through the desert and your gas gauge doesn't work. Do you stop and fill up at the only station you've seen for hours? Or do you just keep going and hoping you have enough fuel to last until you get to the city?

We really don't know how much oil is still in the ground, but what we do know is that it is a finite amount. We must get political and only vote for individuals who are on our side. (Note: Of all the money that comes from American Oil companies and goes into the pockets of politicians, 85%+ goes into the pockets of republicans.)

Maybe I'll put together an organization like the Pickens Plan. I like Pickens but I think with laser fusion he is going to be put out of business with his wind farms. They will be good for 20 years or so and very green, but not the long-term answer.

If anyone would be interested in joining a political action group that advocates for a vision of the future that Neil and I both share please write to me: voltdeville@yahoo.com

I worked on the Obama campaign, I  have lots of experience organizing. I helped to turn Indiana blue for the first time in 40 years, What we have to remember is the definition of 'Revolution: It is a 'turn of the heart'.