Interview with Ian Bruce, founder of Venture Vehicles, part two - safety and sales
Tuesday, February 20th, 2007Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Flex-Fuel, Hybrid, AutoblogGreen Q & A, AutoblogGreen Exclusive
Click on the image for a gallery of 29 images of the VentureOne concept and the Carver three-wheeler.
This is the second part in an interview with Ian Bruce, founder of Venture Vehicles, where he talks about safety aspects of the VentureOne concept, and projected sales growth. In the first part of the interview, Ian shared with us his background with Venture Vehicles, and comments on the design of the VentureOne. Click here to go to part one of the interview.
If you haven’t already, be sure to read our guide to the VentureOne first as background to this insightful interview.
ABG: Is the small internal combustion engine used in the hybrid variant taken straight out of a motorbike? What flex-fuel capabilities does it have?
IB: The genset is the other main component in our series-hybrid configuration, and we have a great deal of flexibility in choosing the final configuration. The principal requirement is that it run efficiently while generating a sustained 15kW using standard gasoline, E100, or any blend in between. We only require a small sensor in the fuel system that can detect the relative percentage of ethanol in the fuel and adjust the injection volumes to suit. We plan to use the airflow from the battery cooling system to keep the fuel lines and engine at a minimum temperature, and avoid any cold weather start-up problems associated with E100.
Interview continues after the jump.
Click on the image for a gallery of 29 images of the VentureOne concept and the Carver three-wheeler.
This is the second part in an interview with Ian Bruce, founder of Venture Vehicles, where he talks about safety aspects of the VentureOne concept, and projected sales growth. In the first part of the interview, Ian shared with us his background with Venture Vehicles, and comments on the design of the VentureOne. Click here to go to part one of the interview.
If you haven’t already, be sure to read our guide to the VentureOne first as background to this insightful interview.
ABG: Is the small internal combustion engine used in the hybrid variant taken straight out of a motorbike? What flex-fuel capabilities does it have?
IB: The genset is the other main component in our series-hybrid configuration, and we have a great deal of flexibility in choosing the final configuration. The principal requirement is that it run efficiently while generating a sustained 15kW using standard gasoline, E100, or any blend in between. We only require a small sensor in the fuel system that can detect the relative percentage of ethanol in the fuel and adjust the injection volumes to suit. We plan to use the airflow from the battery cooling system to keep the fuel lines and engine at a minimum temperature, and avoid any cold weather start-up problems associated with E100.
Interview continues after the jump.
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