Re: Open-Source Armchair Critics At It Again

On 28/07/2026 10:57, Carlos E. R. wrote:
> There was an hybrid with a turbine and a generator. Volvo? They made 
> about a dozen of them, then disappeared, no talk about them.
> 
> ChatGPT just explained to me what happened. Basically small turbines, 
> even at constant speed for a generator, are trouble.

Yes.  An open cycle gas turbine is only about 37% efficient and that 
relies on running at a constant temperature and speed and having 
excellent tolerances between fan blades and housings.
Percentage wise those tolerances cannot be maintained at smaller diameters.
And spool up times are measured in tens of seconds. Not fractions of seconds

Road use - especially urban use - suits electric cars perfectly if only 
we had the sort of batteries you find in Marvel comics. But not real life.

All these things have been tried, and discarded simply because they were 
not as good as what we had already.

We, as a society, are paying a high price for EVs.

-- 
“The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false face for the 
urge to rule it.”
– H. L. Mencken