Flywheel Hybrid Car versus Battery Hybrid Car
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 Car versus Battery Hybrid Car
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
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!!
More Information on Hybrid Technology
Inasmuch as advancements in battery technology are most likely limited, Flywheel technology is here now and power flow is as smooth as an electric motor; see below
PRESS RELEASE
January 3, 2012
Reference: US Patent 7,931,107 B2
VEHICLE KINETIC ENERGY UTILIZATION TRANSMISSION SYSTEM. (KERS)
This recent patent enables the reduction of fuel consumption in motor vehicles by the storage of kinetic energy for reuse. This technology incorporates an infinitely variable transmission (IVT) in the form of an eddy current induction device (called a Modulator) coupled to a gear system to conquer the torque flow management problem caused by infinitely varying bi-directional energy flow between a moving vehicle mass and an associated rotating flywheel mass created by the fact that the respective mass velocities move in an inverse acceleration relationship.
To illustrate this phenomenon, observe that as kinetic energy passes from the moving vehicle to, and is captured by, the flywheel it is caused to accelerate, however the vehicle is consequently caused to slow; but to function efficiently, the flywheel requires an ever increasing input-speed factor from a source which is ever slowing. This always changing speed dichotomy can only be effectively managed by an infinitely variable transmission, and, other than that offered by the above patent, none have been successful for the subject purpose.
The technology reflected in this patent involves very few parts, and is therefore economical to manufacture. It is in addition, long lived, requires little maintenance, and is very durable. Importantly, this system is suitable not only for passenger car use, but also for delivery vans, trucks, and buses.
The conservation of kinetic energy through the use of battery energy-storage technology is exceedingly inefficient while such a mechanical approach is well known to be very high in efficiency. As may be realized, existing battery hybrid technology was developed because it was a way around this, now solved, torque-management problem. As these complicated and costly battery-related electric energy arrangements only avoid, and do not solve this problem, the penalty for this has been the great loss of efficiency as compared to a mechanical storage system such as that proposed by the subject patent
Thank you,
South Essex Engineering