Under the Hood
Young’s ’59 Mark IV is like no hybrid you’ve ever seen.
Turbine Generator
“In the Linc-Volt 1.0, the turbine used to charge the battery came off an aircraft, but the final version will be custom- and hand-built with a full patent. A turbine engine doesn’t have pistons — it uses a heat source, and it has vapor and liquid fuel tanks, so it’s able to run on almost anything. If gas is $4, and diesel is $5, then we can put gas in it. If natural gas or propane is cheaper, then we can put that in it. It really doesn’t care what fuel source we use.”
Regenerative Braking
“During braking, the electric motor that pushes the car down the road is turned into a huge generator. As the car slows down, the electric motor is still producing power, and all that excess power is fed back into the battery pack. Here the car’s weight becomes an advantage. A third of the power used to get it to that speed is returned to the batteries.”
Electric Motor
“The little 150-kilowatt motor we’re using, built by UQM, produces almost 500 foot-pounds of torque. Electric motors are like drills: You hit the button, and it’s instantly wide open. There’s no lag time.”
Robotics
“There are laser sensors all around the car so it has a three-dimension picture of the world. It has its own eyes. The vehicle will have the capability that if Neil walks forward, the car will move, and if he walks backward, the car will back up. Voice-activated software and robotics are connected to the steering and braking, and if the car sees an obstacle it will be able to make a decision. It’ll be a very smart car.”
Batteries
“Right now we’re running a 31-kilowatt battery pack, more than that of a Toyota Prius. It’s got a range of 100 miles just with the battery pack, so on a normal commute you’d never exceed the range. With this much power you could actually have your house off the grid. In the evening, when you get home, instead of plugging your car in to charge it, you could charge a battery pack for your house off the car.”
GPS link
“The car will be wired by Sun Microsystems and Perrone Robotics. People will be able to go to the website [lincvolt.com] and see where we’re at: our fuel consumption, our speed – anything and everything you’d want to know about the car.”
This article originally appeared in the December 2008 issue of Men’s Journal.
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December 11th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Too bad Neil Young can’t practice what he preaches. He talks about using less fuel to save the planet, then the article states how he charters a jet from New York to make his movie. What a f*&$ing hypocrite. Hey Neil, go back to Canada.
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August 18th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
It would be nice to see the Link-Volt up close and coming down the Corkscrew, turn 9, at Laguna Seca this Sept 12 and 13th. Check out the charity event sponsored by Mazda Raceway/Laguna Seca and Club Auto Sport of San Jose. We’re coordinating an Alternative Fuels Pavilion, cars and motorcycles at “Uncorked”. http://www.clubautosport.net/uncorked.html
A Lincoln running around that track, what a great sight to see.
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January 6th, 2010 at 5:23 am
good post on your blog post. I will most likely come back soon.
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