Techrules’ Turbine-Powered Car Supposedly Outputs 6,300 lb-ft, 1,200-Mile Hybrid Range

By Tony Markovich - March 3, 2016

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Geneva never fails to disappoint. Amidst all the major supercar companies showing out their best efforts, there is always a new player that shows up with some wild-bodied insect that supposedly has incredible ground-breaking performance with unheard of technology. See: Devel Sixteen. This year was no different.

This time it’s a company out of China called Techrules. The claim? Turbine power that delivers more than 1,000 miles in oil-less range, more than 1,000 horsepower, and more than 6,000 lb-ft of torque.

The press release was literally 3,000 words mini-novel for this launch, so let’s try to get you the essentials here.

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Techrules is an branch of research and development company Txr-S in China. Apparently they don’t like to do things traditionally. At the heart of all of this is a new system they call TREV, or Turbine-Recharging Electric Vehicle. The company presented two vehicles at the show: the AT96 (Aviation Turbine, will run on aviation kerosene) and the GT96 (Gas Turbine, will run on biofuel or natural gas). The turbines power generators to essentially make this a range-extended electric vehicle. Like a Chevy Volt with a turbine, but not really, sort of, not at all, kinda.

I’m not going to pretend like I full understand everything here, but here’s Techrules’ explanation of the turbine air-flow:

Air drawn into the micro turbine is passed through a heat exchanger where heat from the exhaust air is transferred to the cold intake air after it has been compressed. Ignition of the compressed and heated fuel-air mixture generates enormous energy which is channelled to at very high speeds to turn the turbine vanes. As this hot exhaust gas is expelled, it passes through the heat exchanger to ensure the heat energy is recuperated and transferred to cold intake air.

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Duh. These smart guys also mention that because of the ludicrous amount of rotations at ludicrous speed (96,000 RPM), reduced friction is essential. In addition to supposedly developing a new oil, they’re using something called air bearing tech, “a high pressure feed of compressed air instead of a traditional oil lubricant film to separate the shaft from the bearing.”

But possibly most important is the electric side. The generator puts out 30 kW electrical output, which charges the battery pack. That pack is made of 2,376 cylindrical Lithium-Manganese-Oxide battery cell and offers 720V and 20kWh usable energy. Techrules wants that to be able to charge in 40 minutes.

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Techrules claims it could get 1,242 miles out of this thing with 21 gallons of aviation kerosene, or 59 miles per gallon. If my understanding is correct, that’s when the turbine generators are in full effect and charging the depleted battery pack. If the battery pack is already charged, and it’s in full plug-in hybrid mode, these guys are claiming 1,307 mpg U.S., 1,569 mpg British.

All of this energy goes to the wheels through six electric motors, one on each of the front wheels and two one each of the rear wheels. All of this magic culminates in 1,030 bhp and 6,372 lb-ft of torque (4,248 in rear, 2,124 in front). How that much torque would ever actually drive a car rather than just spin the tires is beyond me. The prototype weighs 3,042 pounds thanks to extensive use of carbon fiber. That means 0-62 in 2.5 seconds and an electronically limited top speed of 217 mph.

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The combined peak output of the motors is 768 kW (1,030 bhp / 1,044 PS) and maximum torque at the wheels is projected to exceed 8,600 Nm (6,300 lb ft). With such power available with such brutal immediacy, the Techrules supercar concept boasts performance to rival today’s hypercars: 0 – 100 km/h in 2.5 seconds; top speed electronically restricted to 350 km/h. Techrules wants to get the weight below 2,204 pounds for production.