Mmmm. so like an onboard turbine, nice idea. However, are there any particular benefits over possibly a wheel driven dynamo to store electricity, like on those hybrids?

Mercedes were going on about tri-turbos 3 or 4 years ago and I thought they were ready for the market. I wonder what happened to them?

Hiya Ken,

Turbo's aren't really 'free power' though are they - they put a damn great turbine in the exhaust tract and thus create backpressure that needs to be overcome so they do themsleves absorb power that could otherwise be pushing you down the road. Until recently thy absorbed les power than superchargers but things are getting much closer now in terms of losses.

Fine as far as it goes; have you ever driven a turbo motor with a broken exhaust? I have, and reckon that manufacturers could probably get off with fitting little or no exhaust silencers to the system on a turbomotor, which will recompensate for any back pressure the turbine develops/