[.........]
> What would be really spiffy would be to 
> have the electric and gas motors in parallel.

> Good Luck  

>  Bill Duff

The diesel-electric engine they're thinking of for the VW concept
is in the same line.  I wonder how much it would cost to do an electric
Vanagon with a gas turbine assist????  The gas turbine has the character
of being real light, but has terrible low-end torque...  With this combination
you could run the gas turbine only when your batteries are low, and at its
most efficient rpm.  A good electrical motor could provide gobs of low-end
torque...

Hmmmm.... this may be an idea for the '82 diesel  for the next couple yrs...
I wonder if:
  1) I can fit the electric motor + gas turbine in the engine space...

  2) how heavy would the combination be? (turbine+gas tank + electric
     motor + batteries) -- would they add up to more mass than the
     loss off weight duie to the removal of the diesel engine...

  3) how much a small turbine/generator assembly would cost.  I do know that
     they used gas-turbine driven generators for aircraft due to ligther
     weight...  Anyone out there know where I can look?

  4) Solar Panels -- If I'm not mistaken (I always forget the conversion
     factor between kilowatts and horsepower -- anyone remember what it is?)
     a back-of-the-envelope calc. that I did (assuming that one horsepower
     is .75 kilowatts or so -- was it the other way around ? )  one might
     get about 5-10 miles a day  for free.. (10-hr sun summer day) e...
     ( I used the numbers I got from Sami for the solar panels -- a little
      optimistically, though --- about 5 amps of charging current at 12V).

  5)  I wonder if they ever make propane-fueled turbine engines?

  6)  how does one ever register and license such a vehicle?

  7)  if the gas turbine based generator is affordable, but the DOT people
      do not permit them in cars, maybe it can be packaged in a manner that
      allows snap  on/off installation into the car...

  8)  I guess even the batteries could be grouped so one does not have to
      carry all the bulk for a small-town daily drive, and add more banks
      for the weekend trip...

Any ideas ?? I'd like to do a rough feasibility on this, and if it looks
promising, well, maybe I'll go for it...  I do have the '82 diesel camper
to try it on, if I can afford it...

Cetin