Zoomi Life

You might remember Dean Kamen as one of the inventors of the Segway Scooter. Kamen is now New Hampshire’s newest auto manufacturer. Although he’s only built one car, and that is a hybridized Think City Car from Think Global. Regardless the 2008 DEKA Revolt is up and running.

The secret behind this electric car is neither it’s body design nor its electric drive. The secret is the backup generator for the batteries. The Stirling engine.

The Stirling Engine is an interesting contraption. It’s been around for quite a while as a prototype tried in many applications, from ships to trains and now to automobiles. It’s an external combustion engine whose cylindars are separate from the heat source. This literally means the engine can run on any heat-producing source sufficient enough to power the engine. It’s been tried with combustion fuels, solar heat sources, etc.

Using this little engine, the Think City is extended to 60 miles’ range and could go even further as all of the external battery-suckers, like heat and defrost, can be powered by the motor instead. It fits underneath the trunk space of the little car.

The first rendition, which used a 2000 Ford Think as its base, was a small success with several inherent problems. This newer version solves those problems and ups the ante.

Kamen says he’s in talks with Think City over fielding the DEKA motor in their Think City vehicles and is not holding them to the Revolt name. He chose the name because it describes both what the motor does for the car as well as his home state’s pride: “Live Free or Die!”

This Post via Inhabitat