The ongoing Geneva Motor Show has unleashed the biggest horsepower monsters the world has ever seen on four wheels. The buzz started with the Bugatti Chiron making news of its mammoth sized power and torque figure, the Koenigsegg Regera took away the limelight from the Bugatti with its extra horses. And just when we thought the game is over, a start-up from China not just raised the bar, but put it sky-high. The remarkable game changing feat has been promised on paper by the AT96 and GT96 TREV Concepts by Techrules, a new automotive research and development company based in Beijing, China. Both the concepts are super-car examples of electric vehicles (EV). The Chinese have taken the EV game to a whole new level with their new range-extending turbine recharging technology.
The hero of the concept is the newly developed and patented TREV – Turbine-Recharging Electric Vehicle technology. The technology is an all new patent protected series of hybrid technology that makes a use of a turbine-generator. The construction comprises of a micro turbine generator technology that is commonly used in the global aviation industry and large-scale power generation industries. The turbine drives a generator to keep the battery charged which subsequently provides power to drive the traction motors.
Explaining the newly developed TREV technology, official of Techrules said. “Air drawn into the micro turbine is passed through a heat exchanger where heat from the exhaust air is transferred to the cold intake air after it has been compressed,” TechRules explained in a statement. “Ignition of the compressed and heated fuel-air mixture generates enormous energy which is channeled at very high speeds to turn the turbine vanes. As this hot exhaust gas is expelled, it passes through the heat exchanger to ensure the heat energy is recuperated and transferred to cold intake air.”
The presented concepts AT96 and GT96 are based on alternative configuration of the TREV system. They are two variations of a the maker’s vision of how turbine-recharging supercars might look when the TREV technology enters production in China’s first supercar. The AT96 TREV concept boasts a lot of Aviation tech bits which starts from its alpha-numeric name itself. The AT stands for Aviation Turbine which suggests that the turbine is configured to run on a liquid fuel such as aviation kerosene, diesel and petrol. On the other hand the GT96 TREV Concept runs on biogas and natural gas; GT refers to Gas Turbine.
The concepts drive with the help of six electric traction motors, one each for the front wheels, and four at the rear (two at each wheel). The maker claims that the combined power of the motors with the turbine power can spout 1,030 hp of power and a massive torque of 8,600 Nm. The twist figure does sound a bit superficial, but
The concepts can perform the 0-100kmph phenomenon in just 2.5 seconds and can do a top speed of 350 km/h. The range of the supercar concept on plug-in battery power alone is around 150 km. When pumped up with 80litres of Aviation kerosene the total range of over 2,000 km can be attained with the TREV range extender deployed. The concepts also get plug-in charging capabilities for markets where public or residential off-street parking charging networks are provided.
The two-seater coupes are all-wheel drive concepts and are built with carbon fibre inside out to keep the cars lightweight. The cars feature dihedral doors along with lightweight 20-inch wheels and a high-performance braking system. The AT version is a track-focused supercar and gets a large rear wing for better downforce. While the AT96 gets all the fancy body work, the GT version gets a sleek road ready body work to suit its subtle demeanour. Currently the kerb weight of the development vehicle is tipped at 1,380 kg, the makers aim to built the production version of the concept under 1,000 kg dry weight.
The first development prototype based on the AT96 aviation turbine configuration, has been produced by Techrules’ specialist vehicle engineering partners in Italy and the UK. The initial testing of the prototype began in February 2016 at the Silverstone race circuit in the UK.
The development The company plans to produce limited TREV-powered supercars in order to perfect the production process of the TREV system and learn from its performance in real world conditions. Next in the pipeline is the development of small city cars based on the bespoke tech that will be efficient and economical.