Jag’s new showcar, the C-X75, an hybrid electric vehicle, which they have dubbed a sustainable supercar. Jaguar also feels it needs to be relevant. To what? It’s a 200 mph supercar. On first inspection it’s not exactly relevant to anything. Except going very fast. But it is beautiful and possibly a real view into the type of hybrid technology which could be appearing in cars in the future! Run using purely battery power the range is a miserable 110 kilometers. Using the twin Bladon Jets micro jet turbines to top up the batteries and under certain circumstances to power the electric motors directly, this range increases to approximately 900 kilometers.
Even TopGear approves. But that IS irrelevant. The fact of the matter is that the technology showcased in this car is VERY relevant to the future of transportation. I first came across Bladon Jets more than a year ago whilst researching Stirling engines which are commonly used nowadays in CHP plants. At that time they had just brought their micro axial turbines to market and they were touting them for use in any number of applications, automotive being just one of them. Of interest was the use if the turbines in small, and I mean briefcase sized, portable power generator which could be used for example in remote villages in third world countries to supply electricity. They’ll run on just about anything combustible, so the use of bio-fuels would obviously be possible with them and presumably the preferred choice.
But of course for the majority of those of us dwelling in first world countries I believe that we will see this kind of technology in our cars in the future. Existing hybrid vehicles don’t really catch the imagination and use current internal combustion piston engines which are heavy. Pure electric vehicles (EV) are hampered by existing battery technology leading to limited range. So in the absence of a step change in battery performance the only practical solution is the use of hybrids. As is often the case it is the technology unveiled in showcars which will trickle down in to the more mundane cars which we all drive daily. To see what features will be available on the average family car in 5 to 10 years, simply look at the most recent incarnation of whatever tecchnology is released by Mercedes in their top of the range model.
Therefore it is likely, perhaps not neccessarily in 5 years or even 10 years, that we’ll be driving around in Toyota Yaris’ or similar, powered by a hybrid of jet turbine engine and electric motors. Viva The Jetsons!
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