Stored energy transmission for road vehicles

A general-purpose motor vehicle would use less than half the fuel on an average journey if its engine could be properly matched to the task. Proper matching requires an energy store and this should be a flywheel to avoid the need for energy conversion and the consequent losses. The difficulties in using a small geared-up flywheel for such a purpose lie-mainly in its control, but these can now be solved with the help of large-scale-integration of digital circuitry. To illustrate these principles, a stored-energy transmission system is described which offers several advantages in addition to fuel saving