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Originally Posted by Telco
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Interesting. I assume they use heavily spring-loaded cylinders (AKA a hydraulic accumulator) to store energy? Such a system would make sense if they were using a hydraulic transmission... A pump attached to the engine and hyraulic motors on each wheel, as commonly found on industrial equipment. Otherwise, it seems like they could have chosen a less complex spring energy-storage system.
If they're comparing it to NiMH batteries, they must have managed a pretty respectable energy capacity, which either means lots of fluid volume, or ridiculously high pressures.
Then again, they only seem to be talking about the energy storage
efficiency - the energy the system releases compared to what was used to charge it. In that case, it might have a relatively small storage capacity, and they're just trying to talk their way around that imperfection.
Even if it only has enough energy storage capacity to accelerate away from a light or two, it could still be a significant help FE-wise with city type stop-and-go conditions, preticularly with such a heavy vehicle. If it's as efficient as they say, alot of the kinetic energy of the moving vehicle could be reclaimed during braking and re-used to accelerate. Unlike a battery, there would be almost no limitation on charge rate, and running it down to zero would have little effect on it's longevity.
On the other hand, so little capacity would probably be useless in steady-state driving like on the highway. I guess they could conceiveably use it as a sort of automatic pulse and glide system... The engine starts up, drives the wheels and fully charges the hydraulic storage, then shuts off and lets the storage keep the vehicle moving. Once the storage is nearly drained, the engine starts up again. Done properly, there would be no noticable change in vehicle speed or acceleration, but the engine constantly cycling on and off might be distracting for the average driver.