Deka Revolt -- fruit of the Industrial Evolution
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Dean Kamen is a clever guy. He invented that thing people use to go up and down the Santa Monica/Venice Boardwalk -- the Segway. Perhaps his next brainchild will have a wider appeal. It’s a hybrid electric car with an engine that can be made to run on any fuel, from biodiesel to natural gas.
The car itself is a recycled (so we’re off to a good start) Think electric vehicle. Think is a Norwegian company that had a bit of a fling with Ford a few years ago, but it didn’t go anywhere. Here it’s renamed the Deka Revolt. It runs on lithium-ion batteries, has a range of about 60 miles -- a plug-in hybrid essentially.
Here’s the twist. The other half of the hybrid equation is a Stirling engine. What the heck, right? It’s a closed-cycle regenerative heat engine, a 19th-century invention that works on a different principle to the internal combustion engine we all know and love. The good Mr. K has just revamped it and brought it up to date. Here’s the Wikipedia page for a total geek-out.
What the Stirling engine does is power the defroster and heater, which are big energy drains, leaving the batteries free to concentrate on the task of propulsion. It also acts as what Kamen calls “an insurance policy.” It can charge the on-board batteries so the driver isn’t left stranded with a flat power pack.
And before anyone says anything, yes, the Norwegians have crash-tested the car. Kamen thinks his version could go into production within two years, at a price affordable to the average Joe or Joan.
The Deka Revolt, however, is just one small step in the realization of a bigger dream for Kamen. Speaking in his local New Hampshire paper, The Union Leader, Kamen says: “If I can demonstrate the utility of the Stirling engine by putting it in a car... it will leave me with an engine that I can use to supply electricity to the world.” He understands that some things take time to be embraced by consumers -- the cellphone and personal computer, for example. “Then, 10 years later, it becomes an overnight success and what was indefensible becomes indispensable... that’s progress.”