Nope. I'm sure that you could find out if you cared to. Do your homework first.
Start by looking up high-efficiency steam engines. Note how complex they become when you get above 25% or so thermodynamic efficiency. In small sizes, like with an automobile, they are *extremely* difficult, if not impossible. IC engine research now is working in the range of
40 - 43% thermodynamic efficiency. Steam would have to be close, which it is not.
The first one is a report from Doble, in which he talks about achieving 14% efficiency at 25 mph, and 16% peak.
Dobles were the most advanced steam cars of all time. In the late '20s, whcn a Ford cost $260, a Doble cost $10,000 or more.
Steam technology on a small scale hasn't progressed very much since. The Doble was a work of genius and very advanced. Turbines are out for cars. You need positive-displacement engines, like IC piston engines. Workable steam engines are complex; boilers are maintenance headaches; and so on.
If you want to see what has developed since, there is plenty on the Web. But watch out for the enthusiasts' sites. They usually don't tell you things like how you'll spend the weekend descaling your boiler, or the fact that it takes three or four times as much fuel as an IC engine.
First, most of what you just said is lying bullshit. I already said the Volt design IS the right design. It just should not be $45K. And yeah, lightweight would help, 2 airbags would suffice, etc.
He COULD
Apparently neither of you have taken apart an ICE or a transmission. When you do, post back.
Dudes: Electric car = battery + motor....... WTF part of battery+motor don't you get??
Sure, you can MAKE shit as complicated as you want.... dat dudn't mean it actually has to BE that complicated. YOU think so, because you can't tell up from down, but that dudn't make it so.
If the gummint were serious about going green, the Volt subsidy should have the car net out to no more than $20K. It would then FLY off the shelves, and eventually support itself.... like, uh, the Prius C, at $18.9K.
It's you who doesn't get it. You keep claiming that building an electric car is trivial. All the world's auto manufacturers, who actually are doing it, don't seem to think so. For example, what part of a big honking battery suitable to power a car being, large, heavy and expensive, don't you get? Yeah, it's just a battery, but so far no one knows how to make one that stores a lot of energy and is cheap. That includes not only the auto makers, but all the battery makers out there.
Also, to try to get mileage that is barely acceptable requires more than a simple motor and battery. Regenerative braking technology being an example. If you don't recover that energy, then the car isn't going to go nearly as far. And then folks have this funny thing about thinking that a car should have A/C, heat, stereo, etc, basicly the standard feature set that you'd find in similar cars today. And for cars that cost $45K, that's a lot of stuff. No one is going to buy a stripped down, barebones car at even 25K, let alone that price. Then there are the govt mandates, like airbags, crash resistant bumpers, etc.
Development work on small steam turbines at Doble led to an American jet engine proposal contemporary with the British, German and Italian efforts, but not as well supported:
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