From:
Eugene F. Mallove
editor@ infinite-energy.com

Monday, September 09, 2002

Tilley Device Update
Sunday evening, 9/8/02 -- Update on Carl Tilley's Device
by Eugene F. Mallove
http://www.infinite-energy.com

"Free Energy" Car Suffers Mechanical Breakdown

The potential record-breaking event by an electric vehicle at the Nashville
SuperSpeedway this Saturday morning (9/7/02) disappointed Tennessee inventor
Carl Tilley, his associates, and about a hundred other people attending the
admission-free gathering, when a wheel bearing failed. See
www.tilleyfoundation.com for the company's promotional material and
information. The Tilley Foundation had rented the new SuperSpeedway for an
expected all-day run to crush, with a margin of hundreds of miles, the world
record for an EV of 220 miles. The group had rented the SuperSpeedway at a
reported rental cost of about $5,000.

Tilley claims to have invented a device that re-charges batteries on-the-fly
in automobiles and in fixed installations, using no evident fuel or power
source (except whatever energy may be accessible from the space vacuum).
Photos of this device that are circulating show what looks like a very small
electric motor with its output shaft penetrating an approximately one cubic
foot metal box. Independent observers who have been to Tilley's lab say
that this is the device that Tilley claims is also powering his building.

Tilley's 1981 DeLorean, retrofit with a conventional electric motor and
controller (purchased, we confirmed, from EV America of Wolfboro, New
Hampshire), had to stop its planned multi-hundred mile demonstration after
only about 18 miles of high speed driving (moving in the 70-90 mph range,
estimated by observers). Its left rear wheel bearing failed, making the car
inoperable for any more laps. An independent engineer from New York, who had
driven to Nashville in HIS unconverted DeLorean, confirmed to the attendees
that DeLorean vehicles are particularly prone to such bearing failures < his
own vehicle had had several such bearing failures in the past.

Our colleague, engineer Jan Roos, who witnessed Saturday's demonstration
relates that Tilley and his associates promise another public demonstration
soon, which will involve TWO vehicles < the DeLorean with new bearing
replacements on all wheels, and a retrofit SUV of some kind. By doing this
they hope to insure a successful demonstration. They have privately
promised also a public demonstration of an electric-powered single-engine
piloted aircraft, to be flown from Florida to somewhere in New England!
Prior to the mechanical failure Saturday, the airplane flight was to have
occurred before the end of October. Douglas Littlefield of Vermont,
Tilley's spokesman, told me that they have obtained FAA approval for such a
test flight.

Jan Roos told me this evening that he inspected the vehicle as closely as
possible, with the various compartments open, and there was no evidence of
any kind of auxilliary batteries or another concealed engine. It is an
electric vehicle, period. Two of the compact Tilley devices, with drive
belts attached, appeared to be near the engine, Roos said. In the rush to
start the early morning, all-day run on Saturday, Roos was not able to
measure the initial 12, 12-Volt Wal-Mart battery pack voltage. However, the
voltage reading immediately after the car stopped was 137 V, measured by
Roos' DVM. The pack recovered to 144.8V within about 20 minutes after this.
Chemical recovery of storage battery potential is a known phenomenon, of
course. Tilley understands this, but noted to Roos that his device continues
*some* of its recharge functioning after vehicle motor shut down. It is not
clear what the average voltage of the battery pack would be during
high-speed travel -- assuming the recharging claims are valid.

Tilley and his associates claimed to Roos and others that the DeLorean had
been driven 202 miles on a drive to Kentucky in the few weeks preceding the
9/7 public test, which if true would be remarkable. (The world record for a
capable EV was by a Geo-Metro that went 220 miles.) Despite these dramatic
claims, at this time it is not possible to draw conclusions about any
anomalous performance of the vehicle. This must await further public
demonstrations. It is noteworthy, however, that despite the embarrassing
mechanical failure, there seemed to be no reluctance by the inventor and his
business associates (many evidently from Vermont) to promise further
demonstrations < soon. This is a positive development.

Prior to the 9/7/02 test, I had called Bob Batson, who runs EV America in
Wolfboro, NH. I asked him how far a 3,000 lb De Lorean equipped with 12,
12-Volt (130-A-hr) batteries would be expected to travel, at say 60 mph,
before stopping due to battery exhaustion. He ran his calculation and said
that at 60 mph the car would travel at maximum 52 miles, but the average
stopping distance would be 37 miles. This should put past and future claims
by Carl Tilley and his associates in proper perspective.

Roos said he learned that the Tilley Foundation's plan is to sell the rights
to the technology as soon as possible. There have been many interested
parties, it is said. One non-negotiable requirement, Roos learned, is that
the purchasing entity must agree to put the technology into the marketplace
within three years, or the rights revert back to the Tilley Foundation.

Infinite Energy magazine will provide continuing coverage of efforts to
validate or disprove, publicly and privately, the very large claims of Carl
Tilley and his associates.

In closing let me note the location of a few reports by others, before and
after the Sept. 7th event:

http://www.greaterthings.com/news/tilley/press_releases/020908_demo_report.h
tm
AND
http://www.tennessean.com/business/archives/02/09/22041880.shtml?Element_ID=
22041880

Sincerely,

Dr. Eugene F. Mallove
Editor-in-Chief, Infinite Energy Magazine
Director, New Energy Research Laboratory
PO Box 2816
Concord, NH 03302-2816
editor@ infinite-energy.com
www.infinite-energy.com
Ph: 603-228-4516
Fx: 603-224-5975