High economy, was Fuel injection plugs

[Raymond C Drouillard]

>Electric or hydraulic drive allows the engine to operate more
efficiently
>but the drive train loses efficiency compared to a direct mechanical
drive.
>Mechanical to electric to mechanical is at best 75%.  Hydraulic has high
>losses at high speeds.  The one advantage for electric with a small
battery
>and small engine is regenerative braking and the ability to turn off the
>engine for short periods of driving.
>
>Gary Derian <gderian at oh.verio.com>
>

Electric motors can have efficiencies up into the high 90s.  Even with a
motor and a generater (each in the high 90s, with a combined efficiency
in the lown 90s), you can do better than a typical automatic
transmission.

If you're thinking 4WD (as I do), you can easily better the
transmission/transfer case combination.  As an added bonus, you can have
a motor at each wheel, and therefore have independant control of each
wheel.  One wheel losing traction will not cause the others to lose
torque.  You'll have the best of both worlds - the traction of a fully
locked system with the advantages of a fully differentiated system.

Hydraulics is a weak point for me.  Just how efficient can you make a
hydraulic pump or motor.  One trick I would use to raise efficiency is to
slow the motor down by using large (44 inch) tires (100 mph at 764 RPM). 
I did a bunch of calculations when I was in high school to figure out the
specifics (displacement of motors, size of accumulater, etc).  I would
have to do them again, though.  I have forgotten the results after all
these years.

Ray Drouillard

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