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Originally Posted by lowglider
A mid-engined Porsche with max mpg, what a brilliant idea!
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Thanks, it was Mike Donlon's fault..
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A rotary engine would really be perfect for short bursts of power, but if you would want to go for power along with big mpg and range I would advise building an all EV drivetrain with a lightweight ICE used only for charging the batteries. This way:
1. The ICE can run (when needed for range) at its max efficiency for powering the batteries and thus increases mpg
2. the maximum burst of power is not limited by the ICE
3. a lot of weight is saved because there is no need for ICE drivetrain
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Yeah, I think this is what I'm thinking, and is mostly how the Prius drivetrain already works, except its battery power is very limited, as well as its ICE. The prius can run the ICE to recharge the battery independent of the cars movement so it can run at max efficiency, and does when you need more power (like going up hills or full acceleration) but it also contributes to moing the car.
If you have the ICE, might as well have it contribute its power so its not dead weight when you accelerate, at least when you want max power for racing or showing off, not necesarily from every stoplight, if we have a plug-in hybrid, it could not use the ICE at all unless you ask it to.
So the question is how to get the Prius to have more battery power, and/or how to get more power from the ICE.
Just changing the 1.5L to something that is a more normal engine with low-rpm torque would make the car a lot faster. The Rotary would be a good physical fit in this car with the Prius transaxle.
However, if I can get more electrical power I could use a smaller a 3-cyl Suzuki motor for the ICE. I have a few of those already, and can tweak it to output more.