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Fifth whell vs belt driven additional engine
I am currently driving Italian fiat Idea, with 1.3 diesel, getting close to 55 mpg. Sometimes dream about full EV conversion. But it add problems with mot in my country. So, only one option - hybrid drive. My road to work is 50/50 urban/extra urban ~ 50 km. If I put electric motor 3-4 kw as fifth wheel or as add-on with belt to the main engine, i could get 30-40% better mpg. And I will need 4-5 optima yellow top 12 volt@ 55 ah. Weight addition would be only 100 kg for batteries, 15-20 kg for motor. A little bit more than additional passenger.
So question. With fifth wheel i could get independent propulsion without ic, but without gear-box, i would need more powerful motor, or I will be limited to some speed interval. More or less - lower efficiency or not enough power.
With e-motor added by belt to main ic engine, I could get clean parallel hybrid, needed smaller motor, could use main gear-box. An also could get poor-man regenerative braking.
Conclusion - fifth wheel would be more suited for constant speed application like extra urban or slow driving in city stuck traffic.
But add-on motor will get just better mpg, regardless of speed, but would be needed to run ic all the time.
Ar my conclusion correct ?
Stanislav
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