I'll state my opinion right now, battery hybrids are a
complete waste of time. The technology is nowhere near being ready for
production use in any meaningful way. Battery electric hybrid vehicles
and too expensive, they are too heavy, they don't deliver enough power
and they take too long to charge. Not to mention what goes into mining
the materials that make up the batteries, the energy that is need to
transport and build these batteries and without mentioning the safe
disposal of millions of batteries if they were to become mainstream. As
far as I am concerned battery hybrids are a complete non-starter.
Flywheel hybrid (Kinetic Hybrid Recovery System) cars
do not have any of the problems associated with batteries and indeed,
even now the potential of flywheel hybrid systems has the potential that
battery hybrid systems can't even dream about.
Lets take the points one by one
Weight - Flywheel hybrid technology is at a minimum
half that of battery technology
Expense - Flywheel systems are around a quarter the
price of flywheel hybrid systems
Power - Flywheel systems have a potentially unlimited
power output without increasing weight, unlike batteries
Charge Time - Flywheels charge instantly whereas
batteries, even the most cutting edge taking at least an hour an half
Like I said, there is absolutely no contest, the
flywheel hybrid technology is by far superior and flywheel hybrid
technology has by far the greatest potential
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Flywheel Hybrid Car versus Battery Hybrid Car
If flywheel technology is so
good, why did the majority of teams choose battery technology?
It's a complete mystery. During the 2009 season many
of the F1 teams were controlled by major car manufacturers and these car
manufacturers also supplied engines to the privateer teams. The car
manufacturers seem focused on using battery technology on their cars for
whatever reason. I will leave the possible solutions to your
imagination.
Bur bear in mind the benefits of flywheel hybrid car
technology when you are thinking of possible reasons.
1. Flywheel hybrid technology gives any car
potentially an unlimited power output,
2. Flywheel technology consumes vastly less of the
World's resources both in its manufacturer, it's use and disposal
3. The flywheel is not a consumable item
Why did F1 abandon KERS?
The rules limited how much power could be recovered
from the system per lap. This made it very hard for the teams to get a
noticeable benefit from running it because the increased energy per lap
was contracted by the weight of the systems. If the limit on how much
energy could be recovered from braking was increased then the flywheel
hybrid cars would have been a significantly faster than their battery
counterparts as the batteries were already at their recharging limit
with the current regulations which limited how much energy could be
recouped from braking.
Which vehicles will gain the
most from a flywheel hybrid system?
It's not such much the vehicle, but how the vehicle is
used. By far the greatest gains will be found by race cars and public
transport, basically any vehicle that is stopping and starting a lot.
While fuel economy increases are hard to asses, I believe it is
reasonable to expect a 30-60% increase in fuel economy which is massive.
The benefits for race cars?
Assuming that fuel economy stays the same as without
the flywheel, the extra energy will be put into making the car faster.
Hypothetically speaking, each lap can be faster than the last. Engine
power output remains the same but the amount of energy stored in the
flywheel will progressively increase every lap.
As the car travels faster down the straights, more
energy will be recovered from the brakes giving more energy to the
flywheel, leading to even faster speeds down the next straight and even
more energy being recovered to the flywheel and so on.
A Nissan Micra as fast as a
Porsche GT2?
For sure. At least in a straight line. Simply drive at
a constant speed while dragging the brakes to recover energy tot he
flywheel for as long as you want, just let the energy build and build
and when your ready simply release it.
Flywheel hybrid technology has massive potential to
make any car super car quick or super efficient.
Where can I get this
technology for my car?
Flybrid
Systems is the World leader in flywheel energy recovery systems and
was the KERS supplier to the Williams F1 team.
We know of no company offering a commercially
available systems for road cars. If you do, let us know and we'll list
your site here!!