Are we still convinced that electric vehicles are the best way forward?

[62 C1]

The Chrysler Turbine car had a lot of performance issues but could run on an extremely wide range of fuels from kerosene to jet fuel and including unleaded (didn't like leaded!).

The versatility was underline when the Mexican president ran one on tequila. That is a bio fuel.

 

[Chuffer]

It's interesting looking at that balance of ice, steam and electric vehicles in the USA in the early days of motoring. Electric vehicles were perfect for city use. Given that most major cities were on a railroad longer distance travel and vital supplies were already well catered for and the simplicity and reliability of electric cars were ideal for those local journeys for those who were able to afford a car. With the huge exponential growth of the rail network here in the UK in the late 1800's one would have thought the same scenario could have worked here in the UK.......but perhaps due to the endemic class structure here motorised transport for individuals was seen as something only for wealthy and upper classes.....while the great 'unwashed' could barely afford to repair their shoes, presuming they were able to afford to have bought them in the first place it took several decades and Henry Ford to show the way for the masses here.

During the 1800`s and the development of the new fangled railways , the Duke of Wellington was vehermently opposed to the railways as he proclaimed it would "incourage the great unwashed " to move freely about the country . A classic case of the class structure looking down its nose at us plebs ! Unfortunately the at the height of the UK Railway Building Mania between 1843 and 1845 many thousands of miles of track were constructed as business men , developers and chancers jumped on the band wagon as almost every town and village in the land wanted to be connected to the `new` transport system . Unfortunately many were doomed to be unprofitable and from the start and ran in direct competition to other railway companies linking the same places and were closed long before the infamous ` Beeching ` era . To make matters worse Dr. Beeching was only the `hatchet man ` hired by the government at the time to close down railway routes that had been systematically desimated by the government owned British Railways to make certain routes appear unprofitable to operate . The Great Central Railway mainline connecting the heartlands of the industrial north of England with London was a classic case that was closed in September 1966 ( which is actually now much of the route of the ill fated HS2 ) together with the Somerset & Dorset Railway route that carried thousands of holiday makers every year from the Midlands and further north down to Bournemouth via Bristol and Bath .
And who was Minister of Transport at the time of all this ? None other than Ernest Marples who owned a large road construction company and was hell bent on getting everybody of the railways and into cars . Conflict of interest in politics as as old as the hills !!!

 

[Chuffer]

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The Chrysler Turbine car had a lot of performance issues but could run on an extremely wide range of fuels from kerosene to jet fuel and including unleaded (didn't like leaded!).

The versatility was underline when the Mexican president ran one on tequila. That is a bio fuel.

And when you got bored with driving you could pull off the highway and get pissed !!

 

[Chuffer]

Any form of reciprocating engine is toast due to the inefficiency of pistons stopping, starting and then going back the other way. In many ways it's a great shame the gas turbine never got developed for automotive use, given their popularity in aircraft and some ships. A miniature gas turbine installed in a gas/electric hybrid might have been interesting. I'm thinking range extender use on the motorway rather than 56 jet fighters screaming up your local high street!

One of the problems with gas turbine power was the high exhaust temperatures produced but a dare say that modern technology might find away to overcome that . British Railways built an experimental gas turbine locomotive called GT3 but it was short lived and would set fire wooden over bridges linking station platforms if came to a stand under them . Then of course the was the Rover -BRM Gas Turbine car of the early 19560`s that was good for 140 + mph .