Diesel-Electric Supercar Has 80 Mile Battery Range, Gets 44 MPG After That
Capstone Turbine Corporation—a company normally known for making microturbines that provide back-up power for industrial and commercial operations—has built a prototype extended-range, diesel-electric supercar that has a 0-60 mph time of 3.9 seconds, a top speed of 150 mph and can go 80 miles on battery power alone before a diesel-powered microturbine kicks on and charges the battery on the fly for an additional 420 miles on one tank of fuel.
>> Interested in solar power? See if group discounts are available in your city
>> Don’t forget to: Sign up for our electric car interest list.
The CMT-380 prototype supercar will be making its in-the-flesh debut at the LA Auto Show this week. It’s still in the design and test phase, according to a Capstone press release, and was developed in partnership with Electronic Arts Chief Creative Director Richard Hilleman. I’ll have a chance to chat with Mr. Hilleman at the LA Auto Show on Thursday, and I’ll be sure to ask him how he ended up designing a car for Capstone.
The supercar uses a Capstone C30 (30-kilowatt) microturbine that runs on diesel or biodiesel, and doesn’t need any exhaust treatment to meet the 2010 emissions requirements of the California Air Resources Board or EPA. According to a company statement, the diesel fueled microturbine also requires less maintenance than traditional combustion engines. The C30 features an electric generator and turbine components mounted on a single shaft, which is supported by air bearings—meaning there are no liquids needed to lubricate or cool the microturbine.
According to company materials forwarded to me by a Capstone representative, when operating in battery-only mode the CMT-380 gets 5.26 miles per kilowatt hour (mpkWh) in the city and 4.55 mpkWh on the highway—both very respectable battery efficiencies. After the battery has been depleted and the diesel microturbine kicks on to charge the battery, the supercar achieves 44 mpg in the city and 38 mpg on the highway.
Turbine engines are known to be quite loud, but the company claims that the C30 microturbines are “essentially like having an ultra-clean and quiet jet engine under the hood.” Quiet relative to what, I’d like to know? Even a quiet jet engine is too loud to have a conversation around, but I’m guessing this microturbine is a lot quieter than that. It would have to be for it to be viable.
“Capstone’s CMT-380 is just now finishing up the conceptual design and first article testing stage,” said Darren Jamison, Capstone President and CEO in a statement. “We plan to finalize very soon a limited production plan, in part, based on interest received at the LA Auto Show. We anticipate customers will be a select group of individuals who appreciate its many innovative high-performance and high-technology driving characteristics, long driving range and ultra-low emissions.”
Source: Green Car Congress, Capstone Turbine
You Might Also Like
Could Mazdaspeed 3 Go Diesel?
“Solarve” – World’s First Solar Cell-Equipped Bus
Cancelled Plug-In Hybrid Ram Pickup Caught Testing In Desert 
Morgan Planning Diesel-Electric Hybrid Car
November 30th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
“but I’m guessing this microturbine is a lot quieter than that. It would have to be for it to be viable.”
Why are you assuming it is viable? This is not reporting. I can make my own assumptions without even reading.
November 30th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
Andy,
“This is not reporting.”
You’re right, this is blogging… he says for the thousandth time to the thousandth person.
Bloggers don’t make enough money to report. When I write pieces for the New York Times or Popular Mechanics I spend the time to actually report–because the money I make there justifies it. But this is a blog… A good old-fashioned blog with opinions and all that nonsense. If you don’t like my opinions, interpretations or assumptions, then you’re welcome to stop reading… but it sounds like you already did…
“I can make my own assumptions without even reading.”
That’s interesting. It sounds like conversations I’ve had with bigots, racists, the uneducated, etc… that is to say people who revel in their ignorance.
November 30th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Loved this article, and cannot wait until the LA Auto Show to see and gather more information. Thanks!
November 30th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Please forgive me for my misuse of the word “reporting”. My point wasn’t that I didn’t -like- your opinions, but just that you bring up an insightful question about a deal breaker question only to dismiss it with a guess.
Here’s the data that you guessed.
The turbine in its fixed install box version claims* a sound footprint of 65 dBA at 10m, which, according to an unsourced Wikipedia article**, corresponds to a passenger car at the same distance.
*http://www.capstoneturbine.com/_docs/CR30.pdf
**http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_pressure
“…that is to say people who revel in their ignorance.” No, quite the opposite. I was complaining that your guess did nothing to remedy my ignorance. I would have known just as much about the sound issue without reading it, which I assume isn’t the intent of your blog.
The reason for my irritation is that you are blogging prospective technology. The whole nature of the conversation is whether it is viable. Sweeping past that with a hand wave is just so frustrating. It’s like announcing a cure for cancer. Does it have side effects and actually work without killing people? Let’s just assume not.
November 30th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Andy,
As I’ve also said a thousand times over, right now you’re using the comments section exactly as they should be used–to fill in where the blogger leaves out details. If I go by time spent vs. income (which isn’t everything, for sure), I had already spent way more time on the article than I should have. But, with the work you’ve now done, you have added value to the conversation and saved the time for me. I’m actually very appreciative. Seriously. But, don’t you think it would have been better for you to start there than to start with some harassing criticism about how I left out a detail on a car that is still in the prototype phase?
It sounds like you don’t read much of my stuff, if you did you likely wouldn’t care about the occasional article that may leave out a few details–for you would have an overview of a person who often spends a ton of time delving into the details (for little reward, I might add). You might then be less nitpicky and harassing when I purposely gloss over some details in an article, and you might feel like simply adding to the conversation with some important details (like finding a technical document on the microturbine) without the harassment.
December 2nd, 2009 at 9:08 pm
I’m crushed, I always thought Nick wrote great articles until he admitted that he doesn’t write all “A” papers.
I love this idea and didn’t know how small they have shrinked the combustion turbine. The best parts are maintenance and fuel variety.
The worst parts are noise (I’ll bet that 65db has an annoying high pitch) and efficiency. If you look at the brochure Andy posted, it has a kW vs. heat graph that shows the turbine gets weaker as ambient temp goes up…and it’s a significant drop for temps we commonly see in the South (like FloriDUH).
December 2nd, 2009 at 9:12 pm
Mark,
So I went down to the Capstone Turbine booth at the LA Auto Show this afternoon and talked with them about the noise (and a lot more). They said the turbine in the car will be slightly louder than the 65 dB of the stand alone microturbine—somewhere in the realm of 70 dB. Which is still relatively quiet. And yes, they said the the sound is like the whine of a turbocharger. I may have a chance to actually listen to it tomorrow, if they’re allowed to turn the car on that is. I’ll have much more info in a piece a I plan on writing in the next couple of days.
December 3rd, 2009 at 6:31 pm
Looks like it’s based on the Factory Five GTM. Not a bad place to start at all.
http://www.factoryfive.com/gtmhome.html
January 2nd, 2010 at 3:54 pm
Having worked on the Ford gas turbine project many years ago, they found that the limiting factor is engine life. So far, I see no improvements in automotive gas turbine engine life. We had to make an engine that lasted the equivalent of 300,000 miles. Both Chrysler and Ford attempted Gas Turbine, (runs on diesel, or anything that burns) but never did succeed with the combustion chamber life requirement. As for noise, the Ford was very quiet. The 18 wheeler that was demonstrated at the plant I worked was much quieter than the diesel engine it replaced. Could it be that finally someone has a Turbine that will last long enough for to use in a car?