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That’s a very cool view of the sparks in the rotaries firing and the piston? revolving.
Performance-wise, not the most impressive thing, but the engineering is very cool. EVs get all the media attention these days, but hydrogen and synthetic fuels are very cool technologies being developed as well.
My favorite part of the WP videos are the guy’s commitment to the outfit. His closet must just be 50 white tees, button-ups, khaki shorts, and pairs of sunglasses.
One word: Hindenberg. Good luck. - Robin Williams
I wish he’d wear a goddamn helmet 
Yeah the engine probably should be on an RC plane vs a kart at this stage. It was a weird demo.
This screams “DANGER” 
In theory, the Liquid Piston looks more efficient, but Power Output compared to the Alan’s video seems way off. Not sure where the divergence lies.
I watched the video, fairly anti-climatic. And we still haven’t solved the hydrogen storage problem. IMO hydrogen is a deadend, and carbon neutral fuel (like what Koenigsegg offers) or synthetic fuel are the future. In the case of EV tech, we would need better batteries.
The storage problem has been solved. The thing still is - & I’m at a loss as to why even well-educated minds ignore it - that all these “alternative” fuels require energy to make, the amount of which is equivalent to the energy in the fuel (hydrogen, ethanol, electricity) being produced. It’s a zero sum gain, in keeping with the 1st law of thermodynamics.
Nothing is free.
I thought we still had issues with the energy produced compared to the volume with can store, implying that we are limited by the size of the container and also we still need to store it at very high pressure, which is quite dangerous in case of a accident.
Indeed. Though if we can reduced emissions by 90% (Like Vulcanol offers) and use “clean” sources of energy, like geothermal in Iceland for Vulcanol or Nuclear powerplants, we can be very close to carbon neutrality.
Wind, solar, geothermal, etc aren’t universally available &/or reliable. Those locations that have it in relative abundance can potentially bottle & sell it if/when the right technologies become feasible. Nuclear has the best density among the alternatives, but it’s a political hot potato, & waste disposal/management is a valid concern (Thorium would be a better choice than uranium for a number of reasons, but that’s another discussion).
I’ve always wondered about nuclear. Seems like if it weren’t for the waste material, would be ideal. From what I understand, most reactors are based off of tech derived from making nuclear subs and the like. Which have space constraints. I wonder if there’s real progress being made in that area or wether the political/social resistance makes it futile.
Interesting, but mostly a solution in search of a problem IMHO. Looks like it’s making about 0.1 kw… oh boy.
It’s funny, I did a science fair project with a hydrogen engine in high school (early 80s). Back then it was supposed to be the next big thing, but still isn’t since hydrogen is a pain to store and handle compared to fuels liquid at normal temp and pressure.
We were doing a lot of progress in France in terms of Nuclear energy, but the 2005-2015 green washing put a stop to this. We were going to use MSR power plants which are a lot more efficient and generate a lot less waste (https://www.iaea.org/topics/molten-salt-reactors), but France (And Europe as a whole) politics decided to go with renewable energy. Problem is, wind energy is not that predictable and solar energy is highly inefficient and recycling the panels is kinda complicated.
This resulted in Germany going back to fossil energy, which is a massive step back from when they were buying from France Nuclear energy.
In the end, politics are refusing the only clean efficient source of energy
France probably has (had?) the most forward looking nuclear power program in the world, supplying something like 90% of its power via nukes, with ongoing R&D.
I’m not actually against electric drive, but more R&D is needed to bring the big 3 factors - storage, infrastructure, & source generation - up to speed. This whole phoney “green” energy fad is going to bite back pretty hard when demand starts markedly exceeding supply & govts engage in cherry picking who goes v. who doesn’t. Get ready, because if reality/physics gets swept under the rug for the sake of the cause, it’s coming.
We have the tech for next gen batteries that solve every problem easily, they are just way, wayyyyy too expensive