Belt drive 2kw electric motor?

[OneOfFew]

Hello, this is my first post so I'd like to say Hi.

Among many of my planned mods I have a rather ambitious one. I would like to belt a 2kw electric motor to the crank pulley and using a brushless motor controller to power it. Fixturing the motor will not be a problem since I do machine work at my place of employment. The question is has anyone tried it, and does it work? I added 2kw of electricity to the "Aerodynamic & rolling resistance, power & MPG calculator" and got ~30% better fuel economy at 60mph. I only intend to use this on the highway at 40-65 mph steady driving. It would also gain me ~200lbs in battery/motor/electronics weight.

I tried searching but did not find a thread on this where someone actually did it.

Thoughts? Thanks.

[dennyt]

Is your crank pulley keyed onto the crankshaft, or just held on with a single bolt like my Subaru?

If it's not keyed, adding torque this way will unscrew the pulley. It's meant to drive things that put drag on the crank, not receive power from things that speed it up.

I'd be tempted to use this motor for electric-only city driving, moving in and out of parking lots, etc etc. But of course you have to spin the engine internals, which will sap some power...

[cleanspeed1]

Take a look at 21ponies.com. This guy did something similiar to what you are talking about with a hybrid Neon diesel he put together. The electric motor is connected to assist the engine at the front of the crankshaft.

Take a look......You'll have to fast forward a little to get to the part where the electric portion is installed, but it's pretty simple.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3Vrp...eature=related

[OneOfFew]

cleanspeed1, tyvm for that video. That is exactly what I planned to do. I wish he would have put as much effort into his "conclusion" as he did in the production of the video.

Thanks.

[Frank Lee]

brucey is trying it... I personally don't think the payoff is worth the effort, but maybe someday we'll see...

[cleanspeed1]

You're more than welcome. He did that intentionally because he is selling the videos on his site.

[pounsfos]

Hmmm, interesting, i assume the batteries get charged by the alternator, ir at home or something,
If he instal;led a bigger alternator maybe he could charge all the batteries,

I wonder if having that electric motor will help (includiong charging the batteries)

I will have my eye on this one

[Ryland]

Originally Posted by pounsfos

Hmmm, interesting, i assume the batteries get charged by the alternator or at home or something,
If he installed a bigger alternator maybe he could charge all the batteries,

I wonder if having that electric motor will help (includiong charging the batteries)

No, it would not help charge the batteries because of the first law of thermodynamics, the energy has to come from some place and if you are using a small engine then it's going to be running at close to the peek load it can handle, adding load to the alternator is adding load to the engine plus all of the losses that each system has, in other words this is a great way to make a very complex heater in a slow heavy car.

[mikehallbackhoe]

this is a great idea for adding low end power to an engine. for example, my crx makes 60 hp at 5500 rpm. maximum torque is 73 at 3500 rpm. I normally run my car at 2000 rpm. an extra 1 or 2 hp at low rpm would greatly enhance the drivability of my car in the higher gears, as well as on take off.

[Frank Lee]

If you think you need 1 or 2 more hp, press the gas pedal down another 1 or 2 millimeters, or wind it out another 1 or 2 hundred rpm. Then all the equipment needed is already there.