Techrules Unveils China’s First 1,030 hp Supercar And It’s A Hybrid
Beijing-based R&D firm, Techrules, has caused quite a stir at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show not with its sleek, carbon-fiber bodied show cars but what’s powering them – a range-extending micro-turbine system. The concept is dubbed the Turbine Recharging Electric Vehicle and uses a single micro-turbine to generate power to charge the battery, which in turn powers the electric motors that drives the wheels.
The turbine is located fore of the rear wheels giving this concept car a ‘mid-engine layout’. The TREV turbine spins at up to 96,000 rpm. This turns a generator which generates electricity to charge a 20 kWh lithium-ion battery pack. The claimed output of this concept is 1,030 hp with a 0-100 km/h time of 2.5 seconds and top speed of 350 km/h, according to their tests at Silverstone in February. Techrules claims the car has a range of 2,000 km. Two concepts were shown – the AT96 (AT for Aviation Turbine) is a track-focused car designed to take gasoline, diesel or aviation fuel and GT96 (for Gaseous Turbine) is a road car that runs on biogas or natural gas.
This isn’t the first time a turbine made its way into a car. One of the better known turbine concepts of recent years is the Jaguar C-X75 which has twin turbines. Several other turbine concepts have been introduced but it’s been nothing but hot air since.
According to Techrules Chief Technology Officer, Matthew Jin, the TREV system is different from past turbine concepts as it doesn’t directly power motion. “Turbines have always been a very inefficient way to convert chemical energy into useful wheel turning mechanical energy, only a few have tried to use a turbine in the powertrain system, and none have ever succeeded commercially. But, with electric vehicles, an electric motor is used to drive the wheels, which effectively frees the combustion engine to exclusively convert chemical energy into mechanical energy and finally into electric energy. This is a major breakthrough, making it possible for us to use the highly efficient turbine engine as a superb range extender on our vehicles,” he said. He added that micro turbines are also significantly more efficient than piston engines in range extender applications because there is less frictional loss.
The company states that TREV system is sealed-for-life and requires almost zero maintenance, with the only service item being the air intake filter. Other technical innovations include the use of magnetic air bearing technology instead of traditional oil lubricants, new thermally-efficient heat exchanger design and a smart battery management system for quick charging.
The first turbine powered vehicle I know of is Michael Keaton’s Batmobile so anything running a turbine is cool in my books. Especially if it’s fast.
