Volvo CE and Rolls-Royce Develop Wood-Burning Charger for Off-Grid EVs
January 15th, 2024At $1.7 million, there are only a handfull of Cryptogon readers who will be able to afford to equip their doomsteads with these.
But…
Please send me some pics if you.
450kwh!!!
I wonder if you can ask for a heat exchanger option for this in order to heat your in-bunker swimming pools and saunas???
Hmm.
As I’m sitting here cracking myself up, I started thinking, “Is there a residential sized unit?” haha
Via: Electrek:
A collaborative effort between Volvo CE, Rolls-Royce, and Air Burners, the BioCharger uses “air curtain technology” to burn wood and waste in a closed-loop system. The resulting heat is converted into electric energy and stored in a connected Battery Storage Module, or BSM. That energy can then be used to charge battery-electric vehicles, construction equipment, and portable power tools throughout the job site.
Especially when that job site is deep in the woods.
Kevin, how about we all chip in so you can buy one, reverse-engineer it, scale it way down, build little ones, maybe suitcase-size, with a handle and wheels, and sell them to people who don’t need as much as 450 KWH?
Then we could start a logging company to supply the wood to burn and a tree farm to grow it.
We’ll all get rich! We’ll get bunkers of our own! Oh — there is the problem of how to fit a forest into a bunker. Bonsai?
haha I appreciate the sentiment, but I have no engineering capability. It would be awesome if there was a smaller turnkey system though.
The way to do it on a small scale is with steam power.
I like this little beauty from around 1910:
Pyle-National 500 Watt K2 Steam Turbo-Dynamo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNQwU3cSSQk
This guy just hooked up a car alternator to belt output:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TQoxVZIHjo
Probably endless ways to do it with steam.
Made right here in NZ – Christchurch. Expensive. The 26 kW generator is $78,000. https://mackwell.co.nz/generators/
Wow, that’s wild. I don’t know how steam is such a niche technology for off-gridders/preppers. Everything I’ve seen for many years has been DIY.
Glad to see these guys giving it a go.
A fellow I know in Taranaki is taking delivery on one (Mackwell, 26 kW) in Feb or March. He’s been to the factory and said it only took two wheelbarrow loads of wood (one of wood chips) to get it cranked up and generating at peak power. Don’t know how much fuel is required to maintain that level of generation (presumably less) but it is not a problem for him as he has a small sawmill.
I wonder how closely one has to monitor the operation of the thing. I read somewhere years ago that there’s no set-and-forget mode with steam power. I have no idea how accurate that is, but with modern engineering, you’d think safe and sustained/consistent output would be possible.
Anyway, there is a Youtube channel for anyone interested:
https://www.youtube.com/@Mackwell-Co/videos
I wish they posted more.