Wasn't there already a diesel car? Maybe everyone is afraid of patent infringement. Why not send the suggestion to Elon. He will be making his money from AI and not from his cars, I think.
There are a few diesel cars, but no electric/diesels. I had two1959 Mercedes 190s, one in diesel and the other in gas, back in 1970.
There was a truck designed very much as @Faye Fox described in Mother Earth News in the 1970s, but it was gas, not diesel. That vehicle had a gas generator and a relay that charged the battery bank when the battery charge got below a certain level. There were individual motors driving wheels, but I cannot recall if there were two or four. You would plug the vehicle in to a 110 circuit to charge the battery bank and then run from that charge. When the battery bank approached the level needed to auto-start the generator, the generator would start to charge the batteries but the generator never actually directly ran the vehicle. I was a little skeptical of the set up until I saw a friend here have the same set up for his off-the-grid house. He had a wind/solar set up attached to a battery bank, and when the bank was depleted it would auto-start the generator, or he could manually do so if needed. Faye, I have explained to many people how diesel-electric locomotives work, but I am generally looked at as a kook who is trying to put one over on them. They apparently have never been around trains at rest or moving.
Most ambulances were diesel. They burned less fuel while running idle, were less likely to run hot, and required less maintenance.
That is much like todays hybrids. What I propose is a NO BATTERY electric vehicle. As I said, this is nothing new, but for some reason no one has ever explained satisfactorily why it is not used in vehicles other than rail. The diesel electric vehicle would be more efficient, by leaps and bounds, than a diesel engine connected thru a transmission, because it could run at a more even speed thus consuming less fuel. Efficient power to wheels provided per gallon of fuel burned has been long proven in trains.
Government does not want efficient vehicles. It wants vehicles for control. Computerized electric vehicles that don't give long distance freedom. Same with electricity that would be better provided by fusion.
It would be efficient only while it was travelling. You would have to have a starting station every place you shut the engine off. Even locomotives have batteries unless they are yard engines: The locomotive operates on a nominal 64-volt electrical system. The locomotive has eight 8-volt batteries, each weighing over 300 pounds (136 kilograms). These batteries provide the power needed to start the engine (it has a huge starter motor), as well as to run the electronics in the locomotive. Once the main engine is running, an alternator supplies power to the electronics and the batteries. Locomotives also are two-cycle diesel and have a separate generator system to run A/C and Heat and such.
That would make it perfect for Faye to submit the idea to Elon. He doesn't mind bucking the system and with all the bad battery bank fires in the news, he might really appreciate the idea.
Think of all the fuel used to haul fuel from the refineries to the gas stations. Think of how much easier it would be to cut down on emissions at electric power generating plants, rather than on every street and highway in the world. Remember how bad batteries used to be? They've come a long way just in tools. Pretty short-sighted to just wait until fuel is too expensive and then start research. Meanwhile China will be busy.
Electric vehicles report 79% more issues than gas-powered cars ****Extracts****It seems that aside from hybrids, plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) and fully electric vehicles (EVs) are far less reliable than internal combustion engines (ICE.) The study comes from reliable consumer watchdog Consumer Reports. In a recent survey, CR studied 330,000 vehicles, looking at 20 common automotive issues, from minor problems like squeaky brakes to major repairs like out-of-warranty engine and transmission problems. It ranked each car from zero to 100 on reliability, taking severity into account. On a scale of 0-100, electric cars earned an average score of 44. Electric SUVs had only slightly more problems, with a score of 43. Electric trucks were on the bottom of all EVs only scoring 30. Examining the trouble areas, CR found that: -EVs had 79 percent more issues than ICE rigs. -Plug-in hybrids were 146 percent less reliable than ICE vehicles. -Surprisingly, regular hybrids (EVs that don't require charging between trips) were the most reliable category, having 26 percent fewer issues than ICE powertrains. ****End of Extracts**** It's interesting that regular hybrids are more reliable than ICE vehicles, even though they are way more complex.
When I said no batteries, I meant batteries to power the electric drive motors. Of course it would require a 12 volt lead acid battery and a starter, but the size of the starter and battery would be smaller than what is used to start gas powered engines in the same power vehicle. The highly efficient electric drive motors on each wheel is what makes my proposal the most efficient vehicle and highest miles per gallon vehicle possible. A natural gas powered engine could also be used to power the generator for a cleaner and more efficient fossil fuels source. I would call my vehicle the Freedom Peacemaker, because it would please both the electric and the fossil fuels advocates and do the least environmental damage in mining the metals needed and manufacturing the vehicle. It could all be done right here in the USA. It would allow freedom from the insanity of charging large Chinese made batteries from the grid which is already in trouble in many place. Yes, it will never happen unless we get back the Republic and reintroduce democracy.
GM buys out nearly half of its Buick dealers across the country, who opt to not sell EVs --Detroit Free Press General Motors said nearly half its Buick dealers took buyouts this year rather than invest in selling and servicing electric vehicles as the automaker's brands transitions to all electric by 2030. That means GM will end 2023 with about 1,000 Buick stores nationwide, down 47% from where it started the year. Late last year, Buick said it would be asking dealers to commit a minimum investment of $300,000 to $400,000 to prepare their stores to sell and service EVs. https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/gm-buys-nearly-half-buick-133702634.html