At one end of the chain, electricity plays an important part in supplying power to drive the car. At the other end, electrical apparatus is introduced merely as a form of transmission gear between the petrol engine and the driving axle. The reason for attempting the petrol-electric combination will be most readily understood by considering the latter arrangement first.
The petrol engine is a high-speed engine, capable of working most satisfactorily when it runs at a uniform rate with a constant load. On the other hand, the speed of the driving axle of a car varies from a very much lower speed down to zero. It is therefore necessary, when driving a vehicle with a petrol engine, to arrange some forms of variable speed-reducing transmission gear between the engine and the driving axle. The problem is further complicated by the fact that the petrol engine is irreversible, has practically no 'starting torque,' and has a very slight overload capacity. It has to be started running 'light' and then switched on to a low gear which gives sufficient power to overcome the inertia of the car. As the speed of the car rises, there have to be successive changes of gear. These difficulties are, of course, accentuated when dealing with the heavy weight of an omnibus.
[Illustration: Fig. 9. Elevation and plan of a petrol-electric motor omnibus equipped by W. A. Stevens, Ltd. Directly behind the front wheels is the petrol engine, driving a dynamo through a flexible coupling. The dynamo supplies current to the motor directly behind it; and the motor drives the rear wheels through a cardan shaft. The transmission of power between the engine and the shaft is electrical at all speeds.]
Practically all the troubles with petrol motor omnibuses have resided in the gear; and even the most ardent enthusiast for the all-electric faith must admit that the motor engineer has overcome these troubles (in great part if not wholly) with remarkable skill and ingenuity. But the complications of an adjustable mechanical bridge between a high-speed engine and a varying low-speed axle are so great that an electrical bridge was proposed as a substitute. By coupling the engine direct to a dynamo and by using the current so generated to drive variable-speed motors geared to the driving axle, the electrical engineer hoped to get better working results from the petrol motor than could be obtained with any mechanical transmission gear.