After checking out Jay Leno’s cool turbine car I thought about a few design changes that would really make this beast stand out.

http://a323.yahoofs.com/ymg/autos_content_landing_pages__16/autos_content_landing_pages-707503592-1248993360.jpg?ymRR7pBDjCTRL8LM

http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_content_landing_pages/1033/jay-lenos-ecojet/;_ylc=X3oDMTE1aGZsZGFpBF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEc2VjA2ZwLXRv ZGF5BHNsawNsZW5vcy1qZXQ-

Problems with current design:

1) Mating a high RPM turbine to a 4-speed automatic transmission is difficult and inefficient at best.

2) Having your turbine idling while sitting in traffic reeks of waste, not to mention very noisy. It will also be harder to keep it cool on a hot day in Texas. ;)

3) Making a turbine run at many different speeds is highly inefficient and takes time for the turbine to spool up and down. This delay reduces the quick response of the vehicle.


I think most posters on this forum can see where I’m going with this - electrification!


Proposed design changes:

1) Change the drivetrain to an E-REV design. Mate the turbine directly to a generator. Drive the wheels (2WD or 4WD) using electric motors. Use a lithium-ion battery pack to provide slow speed operation as well as storage for regen.

2) No need to have plug-in capability because biofuel is being used and using the least amount of heavy and expensive lithium-ion batteries as possible would be a good move. If the battery back turns out to be big enough because you wish to have longer distance EV capability, go ahead and add that plug.

3) Use the coming high-power lithium-ion batteries to reduce the required size of the battery pack. A123 or Toshiba are about to introduce such batteries.

4) Have enough battery capacity to allow the car to reach reasonable speeds before the turbine is switched on. This will give the turbine enough time to spool up to the required power generating speed while the battery handles the rapidly changing power demands from the drive motors.


Dear Jay, your EcoJet is very impressive and the hybrid version 2 would be even more so. Imagine your beautiful jet car quietly pulling away from the night club with no fussing around with starting up a turbine and letting it warm up, etc.

Your passenger will be shocked when you are increasing your speed and slowly the starting whine of a turbine can be heard. As you hit the on-ramp the turbine ramps up to it’s glorious RPM and the power can be felt as you cruise at high speed down the highway. I can’t think of anything cooler than that. ;)