TEV Charging system

[evelrod]

A while back, in this forum, I was asked to look into the Carl Tilley Inc. site

http://www.tilleyfoundation.com

and give an opinion. Well , boys and girls, this is a bit over my head. Race cars with IC engines and other 'big boy toys' I can handle. This technology I must leave up to you younger folk. The site is well done and, at least at first glance, this system appears legit. The disclaimers and warnings are long and thorough. It appears to be a "one man operation" with no solicited support. Proper documentation has been attempted as has the use of a 'big name' test driver. I am old enough to know some of these 'old' pro driver types and while I would not dream of making any assumptions about their's or anyone elses qualifications to test this type of vehicle (aside the obvious-they know how to drive!) I lack sufficient infomation to form an opinion at this time. I don't mean this to sound presumptious (my opinion lends little value to this subject) but, it is YOUR qualified opiniions that would validate (or put the lie to) this project. It does sound 'to good to be true', does it not?


Rod

 

[franzh]

Rod:
I too have looked at the website and tend to agree, it seems too good to be true.

I have also had experience with "big name" drivers to lend some credibility to an experimental vehicle testing program. When it came time to pay him for his services, there was some discussion about how his report should read. His curt answer was something on the line of "How good do you want it to be?"..while handing his hand out for a "performance bonus"!

This is a driver would be more than familiar to anyone who knows "roundy-round" racing. I regularly receive unsolicited marketing material about some product with more emphasis being placed on the spokesman's credentials than the legitimacy of the product. Repeated requests for independant testing lab results simply result in more "how can you doubt this persons testimony?"

I tend to shy away from any marketing material that mentions any well known person for crediblity or testimony, call it caveat emptor!

Snake Oil?

Franz

 

[GregLocock]

We have a long history of this in Aus... let's face it most (I repeat, most) drivers know just enough technical stuff to get into fights with the pit crew.

The thing that baffled me is why people set these scams up... and then you read about the Feds handing out millions to that catalyst company that someone was promoting here, and it all becomes clear. Cheers

Greg Locock

 

[jons999]

Kind of strange, they don't give enough info on the recharging device to tell if it could be for real. Toyota has a Rav4 electric vehicle that will go over 80 mph and goes over 100 miles on a charge so that 17 mile test doesn't impress me. Why they would use off the shelf batteries i don't know, there a nickel metal hydride batteries that are specially designed for electric cars, they have more power than a standard battery and weigh less. The electric motor they show looks like a motor that would be used in an electric vehicle. They said that the battery voltage after the test was 144 volts, most current electric cars run off 260-320 volts, that big motor pulls a lot of amps, you would need some pretty heavy wires if your running at a voltage that low. I don't think i can make a judgement unless they provide more info and actually drive the vehicle 400 miles without charging.

-Jon

 

[carnage]

NiMH batteries are very spendy, so I can see lead acid.
his claim that the car ran out of juice at 9.8 miles using a 12 batt pack, and the "independant engineers" comment of “I built an electric car. I know this vehicle could not go more than 10 miles without recharging it’s batteries so the TEV charging system must work” are a little to much alike for my liking. Also my experiance with EV's is that one set up as this is should have a range of 35 to 50 miles (in city driving) depending on the exact vehicle and if you are always hammering it at the lights through town. Also 144.8v s not full charge for a 12 batt lead acid system.

The biggest thing that bugs me is that if his device really could produce the power needed then why the high capacity batteries? yes you need batts (or even better supercaps) to provide extra power momentarily for full load, but smaller, lighter, and cheaper batteries would work just fine.

 

[kradicke]

Rod,

http://www.greaterthings.com/News/Tilley/newstuff/archive/2002Sept.htm

Tilley gave a public test of the car on Sept 8th 2002. The car failed with mechanical difficulties, I believe an axle sheered or a CV joint gave out. Tilley gave the excuse that the loading imposed by the banking at the track was the cause of the failure, which is 100% BS as the Delorean wasn't travelling that fast at all when it happened!

Scroll down, on that page, to Sept 8th / 9th, to get the full details. The site also contains a bunch of other info. Tilley does have outside investment... one of the reasons he was having a public demonstration.

Kai