SORCERER / TMX
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A while ago over on Fated to End Sometime I mused briefly about this small 4X4 concept, for which (I thought) I finally had a name, or at least a designation: TMX. Maybe the 'X' stands for 'cross-country', or maybe it's short for 'Tellurian Motors eXtreme'; It hardly matters, since while I was writing that short piece I came up with 'Small, Off-Road Capable, Environmentally Responsible Electric Roadster', or SORCERER.
As for the 'Capable' part, this vehicle is designed to rock-crawl with the best of its class -- out-Jeeping the Jeeps, out-roving the Rovers, out-cruising any Land Cruiser, and, if you'll excuse me, out-humming the Hummers (including their new HX concept).
Did I mention it's electric?
What I most certainly haven't mentioned before is something that has been frequently passed off as a myth within the electric vehicle community -- 'supercapacitors' with the capability to not only replace batteries, but outperform them. I'll spare you the technical details; Basically, this is what's been missing -- an electrical energy storage system capable of being recharged as quickly as a 'conventional' vehicle can be refuelled, while matching (or exceeding) the kind of range we've come to expect.
Of course the only company (that we know of) manufacturing these zappy little numbers has come under contract to a major military aircraft supplier and is now cloaked in a veil of secrecy. Of course.
This won't stop Tellurian Motors from making use of them...
WHY DO I SAY THAT?
I'm working on a novel of near-future science fiction, and so Tellurian Motors and our complete lineup will appear on the printed page long before I'll even be able to convert my derelict Toyota Cressida (the Defiant) to electric. Within this fictional world, things will be as I would like to see them, more and more, as the novel progresses. Along the way, a few plausible uses of technology will be revealed, supercapacitors being the least among them.
By the time the real Tellurian Motors is up and running, supercapacitors (also known as 'ultracapacitors') should be available. Right?
Phil Smith
January 15, 2008
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