I think I have seen some cars or should I say prototypes that have promised a lot and basically faltered when the final step arrives. The materialization of the entire process is a lot more difficult and the hurdles that one has to overcome are a lot greater than what they appear on paper. With an engineering goal of delivering the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon of gasoline, plus 30-miles of electric driving range, the Kernel could someday be priced in the mid-$20,000 range.
The seven-passenger Kernel Crossover vehicle seems to defy that axiom. Designed and engineered by volunteers around the globe as part of the Open Source Green Vehicle project. SSM is a 501C3 non-profit corporation with centers for development in Los Angeles where the electric drive system is being engineered and Rotterdam and Hong Kong where the chassis is being designed on computers, very much in the fashion of what GM is doing with its Volt program. Having seen the Volt before one hopes this too works equally well.
The entire vehicle is designed so as to allow the supporting different types of range-extending generator sets including gasoline engines, diesels, compressed natural gas/propane and hydrogen fuel cells. The target electric-only driving range is 30 miles and combines ultra caps and lithium ion batteries; the latter mounted in a central tunnel. One hopes that more such concepts are conceived and they actually work as they could really improve both the planet and the automobile world.
