Chery Automobile Reportedly Working on Wankel Engines for Its Hybrid Vehicles
By Scott Doggett October 21, 2010
Chery Automobile, an automaker owned by the local government of Wuhu, China, is developing a series of Wankel engines for its planned hybrid vehicles, according to various media reports inside the republic.
A leaked photo of Chery's Wankel engine for use in its hybrids.
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The Wankel is a type of internal-combustion engine that uses a rotary design to convert pressure into a rotating motion instead of using reciprocating pistons.
Because of their compact design, Wankel engines have been installed in a variety of vehicles and devices including aircraft, go-karts and chainsaws. The most extensive automotive use of the engine has been by Mazda.
Chery is hoping to use a small Wankel engine to generate enough power to charge the batteries of an electric-drive hybrid, much the same way the Chevy Volt will use an onboard conventional gas engine to generate electricity for propulsion.
According to information from various sources, Wankel engines have already been fitted to Chery's pure-electric QQ3. Without the engine, the QQ3 is good to go 70-90 miles between charges. With it, the hybrid can go 100-130 miles.
It's not clear if Chery intends to sell a hybrid version of the QQ3 or create another model that would use the Wankel.
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Seems very odd to me.
I understand the size and weight considerations, but a wankle is historically less efficient and more polluting than ice.
Also, a 100-130 mile range WITH the range extender? I think they missed the boat on this one.
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