[chuckles]

I'm not a scientist, but 5 chips won't do diddly in Houston traffic. The problems arise when you need 500 chips to do any good. I can see some advantages, like no leaks, or low maintenance, but it has to work first. What does it take to get an equivalent to a 40 degree coil.

There is probably a formula somewhere to figure watts, horse power, or BTU usage or something, to figure the probability of this working or not. Kinda like a 100 mpg carburetor or something. Most people that make this claim have never figured it would take 150% efficiency to move a SUV down the road at that mpg. Most engines are good to get 40%-60% efficiency. A moped might get it, but not a Tahoe.

[coloradan]

Well, sunlight is about 1 kW / square yard, and 1 HP is ~750 W. So the heat load on an SUV that's two yards wide and three long, or six square yards, is about 6 kW. Assuming 50% efficiency, it would take 12 kW to clear the heat, which can be expressed either as 16 HP (12 / .75) or as 1000 A at 12 V. (That's quite an alternator!)

[Wombat101]

I'm most definitely automatively challeneged, but pelase explain all this talk about alternators?

I was under the impression that the initial charge to turn the engine over came directly from the battery, with the alternator merely carrying the load until the generator spun up to speed, at which point, the alternator still spins, but does not generate power. It is the generator which then creates the electrical energy necessary to run the engine (and accessories) and recharge the battery.

Am I wrong, and if so, please enlighten me?