Jaguar is working on what could prove to be the next big thing in hybrids — partnered with Bladon Jets and SR Drives (an electric parts supplier in the U.K.), the British sports car icon is developing a gas micro-turbine powered hybrid. The effort recently won $1.8 million in funding from the U.K.’s Technology Strategy Board.
Though any car brought to market is likely to be branded as a Jaguar, make no mistake: Bladon’s gasoline powered micro turbine will be the heart of this beast.
Two months ago we reported on the CMT-380, a turbine powered hybrid supercar just as fast as the Tesla Roadster but with twice the range. It seems Jaguar, and others, took notice of the car’s capabilities.
I’m predicting something with a series drivetrain (turbine never powers the wheels directly) that will get great fuel economy in the city but comparitively less so on the highway. Richard Hilleman, designer of the CMT-380, tells me that the turbine for the 380 was 1/3 the weight of a typical V-8 engine, or about 200 lbs. The Bladon unit, being much more modern than the Capstone turbine in the CMT-380, will probably weigh 150 or less. Control systems could be similarly updated, so I’m guessing 100-200 lbs could be saved vs a standard engine hybrid system. This means better city economy.
Still in the realm of educated guesses, I would also expect at least a 40-mile battery only range. The Volt goes 40, the Karma is expected to get 80. The CMT-380 traveled 80 miles but had only two seats. I expect that Jaguar will want to build something more refined and spacious than the CMT, possibly with four seats to broaden market appeal for a new technology. This means less room for batteries and less range. I would also be surprised if the car didn’t integrate a charging unit to plug in at home. Technologically it is trivial to do so, which means Jaguar would be silly not to take advantage of the “plug-in hybrid” appeal.
Hilleman also notes that the cost of manufacturing is likely to be a deal breaker. He notes that Capstone’s design, even built in China, would cost over $15,000 to produce in volume. That is for an old turbine without controls, batteries or electric motors. Unless Bladon has something truly unique in the design and manufacturing process, a turbine-powered Jaguar would be a rare cat in most neighborhoods.
Turbines are well suited to generating electrical power. Under steam power, they are used in coal natural gas oil and nuclear power plants. Turbines generate a lot of power for the energy put in to them. In traditional car platforms the disadvantage has been the amount of fuel they require at idle speed, when the car isn’t moving. In a hybrid application where power production at a stoplight is stored in a battery instead of wasted, this isn’t an issue. Similarly, a traditional car requires low-speed “grunt” a turbine hasn’t got. In a hybrid application, the electric motors provide the muscle and the turbine just fuels the beast.
Before Jaguar-Land Rover, there was Rover — which designed the first turbine powered automobile. Later there was a Le Mans racer which averaged 93 miles per hour for 24 consecutive hours. Chrysler worked on turbine cars in the 1960s but had to kill the program to receive government bailout money. To our knowledge, the CMT-380 was the first car to use turbines in decades. The Jaguar hybrid would be the first production model ever.
Whatever the Bladon-Jaguar team comes up with, it is sure to do two things. First, it will give a super quiet ride due to the smoothness of turbines and electric motors. Second, it will fuel my car-geek dreams for years to come. And it might do one more thing: Revolutionize the way car companies conceive of and build hybrids.
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The need for innovation in the enterprise does not stop when the economy turns sour. Instead, what we often see is that constraints will invariably lead to creative thinking, which leads to new products and new business processes.
