I’ll be honest right up front here. The only reason I even read the original press release on this one is because it has “Wankel Rotary Engine” in it. I just like saying that. Wankel Rotary Engine.
Hey, buddy, how’s that Wankel rotary engine doing for ya?
I got yer Wankel rotary engine right here, pal!
Hey! That thing got a Wankel?
You can’t get tired of saying it. Wankel. Makes me giggle every time. I guarantee this article will be full of innuendos.
Anyway, it turns out this isn’t such a bad idea. One thing the Wankel is good for is power vs. size (meaning energy density). Now that modern technology has trumped what was available in the 1960s and 70s, when the Wankel first emerged, they aren’t oil guzzlers either. Mazda has been fiddling with Wankels for a long time. They even have a little RX model burning hydrogen through its Wankel test driving in the Netherlands now.
A company called AVL has been perfecting the Wankel’s stroke for quite a while and now has a prototype Mini E with a Wankel rotary acting as a range extender. The single-rotor, 254cc engine produces 15kW at 5,000 rpm or up to 25kW at 7,000 rpms. With only 2.6 gallons of gas and a 10kWh battery pack, the car has a range of 124 miles. That’s pretty impressive.
Best of all, this compact package of rotary, generator, power electronics, and cooling weighs about the same as the average passenger (143lbs). That’s more than fifty pounds lighter than the Volt’s range extender.
Wankel that, buddy!
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Except that’s only a conceptual at this point. Great solution, maybe, but not in the Volt. Other than a press release from China in 2008, I have seen little on the genset concept for the Volt. I know other companies have been experimenting with them with at least one (FEV I think it was) putting one on the market as a ~40kW (I don’t recall the exact number, but it was somewhere in that range with 3 or 4 cylinders). An OPOC would be excellent as well, with very light weight and the ability to burn multiple fuels.
July 27, 2010 at 22:02
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I would think the Volt engine – genset would be more likely ~450 lbs.
July 27, 2010 at 21:52