this idea is to use a multifuel engine similar to the "deuce and a half" engine from army trucks to power a hybrid van. in addition , it would be able to charge its batteries off of wall current. full electric would be used for short range travel, to save money and prevent engine wear(short trips are the most destructive on an engine!). the multifuel diesel engine would be able to burn a wide variety of fuels, such as gas, turpentine, vegetable oil( for the "earth ppl"), diesel,( ive fed them used motor oil and kerosene also, with no ill effect)etc.the problem of low torque would be negated by the electric propulsion system.another major benefit of the electric system is that it could potentially power electricity-sucking devices such as welding equipment, life support gear, or in the case of military applications it could even power energy weapons. between these fuels and the "plug and play" capability, the name "scavenger van" is well deserved...-- bobenhotep, Jun 30 2004 "Diesel" and "low torque" don't belong together here... On a slightly different note, Evinrude has developed multi-fuel outboard boat engines. It's multifuel on small scale, and a place to look for things that aren't huge. In actuality, most diesels would burn about anything you put into them. Even straight veggie oil. It's the delivery to the engine (and public infrastructure) that is the barrier. Also, terpentine, kero, lube oil...none of these are less costly than diesel. In a pinch, it could be useful.-- wittyhoosier, May 10 2006 Friends of mine have built such a van, using a Daihatsu Delta. It doesn't take the range of fuels you list, but they do run it on waste fry oil and diesel.-- BunsenHoneydew, Jul 28 2006 the multifuel diesels used in the old m35 2.5 ton trucks had low torque ratings compared to diesels of equal size. this is due to the combustion chamber design that allows it to also burn gasoline without knocking...-- bobenhotep, Oct 26 2006 got any links, bob?
[hoosier] the fuels may well burn in the cylinders, but the fuel pump will go to shit in no time. Very tight specs on viscosity, lubricity, etc.-- Custardguts, Oct 26 2006 You missed my favorite of the multi-fuels, coal. Some of those duece and halfs blew in coal dust and then ignited it with diesel. It wasn't earth friendly but it was exciting from an engineering standpoint for me. The downside was the worm drives that "injected" the coal dust died quickly and I'm sure the piston rings just loved the ash.-- MisterQED, Oct 15 2007 I think [bob] is implying that part of the vehicle's performance envelope is in the engine's low-torque performance regime, e.g. very low engine speeds. Granted that usually produce very good torque at lower engine speeds than a comparably sized gas engine, but that's with the foot on the floor, and often accompanied by clouds of black exhaust smoke. The hybrid system will provide a big torque boost even from rest.
Whoa, just saw the bit about the multifuel engine running on gas. I'll have to look that up.-- elhigh, Oct 16 2007 random, halfbakery