A new Saab?

In December 2005, I was able to attend a private Automotive Forum held by Exxon in Houston.
A Saab spokesman was on hand to dismiss the novelty idea of gas / electric hybrids.
The Spokesman said the future of the automotive industry would rely on Ethanol powered turbines with secondary electric support systems.
He said Saab was in the process of developing a shaft driving Turbine that produced 450hp with only two regenerators. The turbine would use an electric engine at idling speeds and the turbine for everything else. The turbine engine would consume about 8lbs of corn ethanol per hour, which would equal about a 1/8th a gallon of gas per hour.

saab has designed many numerous engines and gm shuts them down everytime they get a cool one. i personally dont think it will ever happen in america. sounds very expensive...if they can make it marketable and somewhat affordable maybe.... i work for saab and everytime i hear about some revolutinary saab design, it pretty much gets the circular file. it's too bad because the company has some wicked designs, just not the funds to follow through with them.

A turbine cost less to manufacture in large quantities than the average 4cylinder aluminum engine. The reason turbines are thought to be so expensive is because most people see turbine engines from Boeing that are pushing over 20,000hp or steam turbines that where pushing between 180,000 - 650,000hp (when I retired).
Also the average 450hp turbine only needs servicing about every 100,000 hours and has a lifetime of somewhere around 45,000,000 hours of life.

A good estimate on the cost of a 450 turbine with a proper gear box would be about $3,500usd.

why isnt everyone jumping on the turbine idea then?

Thats a good Question.......

Commercialized production of turbine driven automobiles where made illegal in the United States in the 70s (Chrysler had made prototypes), as to protect the United States Oil Monopoly.
The reason it is not done elsewhere in the world is the problem faced with servicing turbine engines. You would have rewrite over a century of mechanical knowledge. Companies have spent billions upon billions of dollars getting Internal Combustion Engines to their current state, they are not going to throw that away. This is one of the main reasons Ford and General Motors do so poorly.
Then you have to consider where a new car has a half life of about ten years, a turbine engine would have a half life of about 35 years.
You need to then look at the cost to build the facilities and equipment to house the construction of turbine engines.

^ good points.

In the 70s and again in the 90s I was on the comission for Royal Dutch then Exxon to determine the effects of a turbine driven car on the US oil monopoly.