Anybody hear anything about Toyota and Diesel hybrid. I heard it was going to be a truck, a one ton or more.
- posted
18 years ago
Anybody hear anything about Toyota and Diesel hybrid. I heard it was going to be a truck, a one ton or more.
It's quite possible. Remember, General Electric are developing a hybrid railway engine (big, US style, long distance hauler).
General Motors' Electro-Motive division has been making diesel-electric train locomotives for a very long time, and diesel-electric submarines were the norm before the advent of nuclear powered subs. The diesel engine turns a generator which supplies power for the electric motors that move the train or power the sub.
Thank you for that insight, which of course had eluded me for lo these many years. ;-) That's why I wrote that GE are developing a "hybrid", as in the current use of that term in Toyota cars.
GE may, of course, simply be modifying a standard diesel-electric set by adding generators and big traction batteries, with Prius- style fancy electronics to manage the electric power. We'll see.
A recent GE shareholder report suggested regenerative braking can save around 17% (seventeen percent) of the energy required to run such a beast. The battery bank hardly bears thinking about; but a sketch with the item showed many separate batteries (each quite bulky) packed into sundry corners of the vehicle.
In the case of a hybrid car (eg, Prius), quick engine starting is important. I imagine a railway engine need not start its engine so promptly (maybe they'd have a couple of minutes' notice -- at least), hence a diesel would suit that application fine, assuming they ever shut off the diesel and run electric-only, rather than using the electric drive merely to augment the diesel.
Sorry, I thought you were pretty knowledgeable about things with IC engines, but you never know, hence my little history lesson.
I suspect that GE is taking the diesel-electric setup to the next step like regenerative braking, more sophisiticated controls and traction mkotors, and perhaps batteries and then calling the setup a "hybrid" to take advantage of increased awareness of the term.,
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