Capstone, the auto-turbine and the case for liquid fuels

The historical, gee-whiz notion of the auto-turbine might include the screaming Batmobile, including afterburner, of the original Batman series or the Thrust SSC, a Rolls Royce Spey powered car that set the land speed record in the Mojave dessert.  While the turbine considered here has slightly less icandy appeal, it does present a plausible way forward in auto fuel-efficiency.

Last week Capstone Turbine released a photo of a micro-turbine powered hybrid electric vehicle that was engineered by Langford Performance Engineering in the UK.  The claims made in the associated copy were quite impressive, including an 80 mpg fuel efficiency.  This number tops the fuel efficiency of current well-known hybrids by at least 50%. While it is not our intention to quibble about the particular numbers this type of difference suggests a real paradigm difference and not “simply” an incremental decrease in body weight, for example.

As indicated in the Capstone release and Langford’s patent application WO2009/050456 the micro-turbine is part of the electricity generating system and is not part of the traditional power-train.  An electric motor provides all drive power.  In this configuration the turbine only runs as needed and can be operated to optimize efficiency, not worrying about the power requirements of the instant driving conditions.  While this configuration is central to the efficiency increase it does not diminish from the micro-turbine’s improved fuel efficiency and reduced emissions.  Finally, the turbine is claimed to be only 50% of the weight of a traditional internal combustion engine.

While the push for the electric car is real, the inability of the current power grid to handle the associated additional load is even more real. The above development of the auto-turbine advances the case for the continued role of liquid fuels for transportation.  Whether it be Iogen’s cellulosic ethanol, which was coincidentally made available at an Ottawa gas station last week, or Dynamotive’s bio-diesel that are both bio-mass based, advanced bio-fuels become even more attractive with a decoupling from the internal combustion engine.  Continued progress in advanced fuels that do not source food crops and auto-engines will likely go a long way to reducing the carbon footprint of cars while mitigating the need for new electricity infrastructure.