Reader Sarah Turner emailed in a question yesterday asking about the Stirling
Engine and what might come be it’s future as a power source in automobiles. Since this is an excellent topic
that, I think, will interest a lot of AutoblogGreen readers, I’m re-asking the question here. If you’ve got
any knowledge about this, post it in the comments.
Turns out Stirling Engines (which, to put it simply, use
external sources of heat and cold to move pistons) have been developed for use in automobiles, but this was back in the
1970s when Ford, GM and AMC all built Stirling cars. There is no one (to my knowledge) working on new Stirling Engine
vehicles today. Still, the potential is there, especially in a hybrid engine where the batteries would run the car and
the Stirling would power the batteries. There is an inherent difficulty in making a Stirling that can shift between
quick, inefficient bursts of power and slow efficient energy, something automobiles need to be able to do. The 1979 AMC
Spirit’s experimental Stirling engine was the “P-40” and ran on gasoline, diesel, or gasohol! Combine
a car engine with that kind of fuel flexibility and some sort of hybrid technology; add in todays biofuels and now
we’re talking a really green car. For more information, I recommend this collection of messages
and the Stirling FAQ
[Source:
Stirling]