[bennelson]

I've been thinking about this a bit more.

Here's what I've come up with.


Build an Open Source Plug-In Hybrid.


Fully document it. Open Source it. Drive it, race it. Cross the country in it.

Something with better range than a Plug-In Prius and maybe a Volt as well. And don't use gasoline for the engine component. Diesel. Make it be able to run on bio-diesel or veggie oil.

A person could drive from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, without ever using a single drop of petroleum. The car could run on solar, wind, and other renewably-sourced electricity. In extra long distances, where there just aren't stops available for electric recharging, the engine could run the car directly.

Likely, it would be a turbo-diesel engine coupled with an AC motor. But by coupled, I don't mean with some sort of super fancy transmission. Design a four-wheel drive vehicle, which has a separate power source for the front and the back. No need for a transfer case or anything like that, just keep them completely separate.

The AC motor would feature regen, which would help with range in start and stop and city situations, but almost more importantly, it works as a generator and brake when going down mountains and big hills.

My electric Geo Metro just uses a series wound motor. I'm not in a real hilly area, and just use the service brake going down larger hills, it's not that big of a deal. In September, I was out at the Mother Earth Fair in Pennsylvania. I got the chance to drive an original RAV-4 Electric. That area was skiing country. I got to test out the regen feature on that SUV. Works great. I was really FAR more interested in it to keep the truck from going way too fast down those big hills than in charging the batteries. For a vehicle to make a cross-country trip, it needs to be able to deal with various terrain, including going UP and DOWN hills and mountains.

So how does one recharge the batteries, while driving, with an engine WITHOUT a fancy planetary gear set connecting them? "Drag Charging"

I know guys have done this out on the salt flats for racing EVs. They would drive a shunt-wound or other regen-capable motor vehicle for their race time. Then, they would drag the car back to the start with a pickup truck, but leave the EV in gear and set to regen. By the time they got back to the start line, the EV would be mostly charged.

A through-the-road hybrid could charge the batteries with the same process. Say you drive the front wheels with a diesel engine, and the back wheels with an AC motor. As you drive the car with the diesel, you would simply turn on the AC motor system and have it start generating. Of course this adds drag to the car, kind of like driving with the parking brake partly on. However, internal combustion engines run more efficiently at closer to wide-open-throttle. Even though you would be getting worse total fuel economy, you would be recharging the batteries. If the car was designed to handle cruising speed on electric only, once the batteries were charged the diesel engine could be shut off. Hey, I think we just re-invented Pulse-and-Glide!

Through microprocessor control (Arduino, etc....) it would be easy to automate, possibly with some sort of override. If you knew you were going to be arriving at your destination in a certain number of miles, you could set it to leave the batteries on a lower state of charge, and just finish the end of the trip on engine power, so that the batteries would get recharged by wall power.

The car could be a conversion of something standard to make licensing and insurance easier, the way typical hotrods and EV conversions are often done. All information on the project would be open source, including a Wiki, plenty of YouTube videos, etc, etc.

I think we have everyone we need right here on Ecomodder to make this happen. The Open Revolt project has lead to an Open Source AC Motor Controller. Several members are building their own chargers.

I know next to nothing about diesel, but plenty of people here do. Most of the X-Prize guys were pretty happy with turbo-diesels, and I think they would be willing to help out with it.

I know the basics of aerodynamics, but plenty of guys here know far more than I.

Oh, and then we make TWO of these things. Two teams could build them, so there would be both a friendly competition AND cooperation between the two. The cross-country trip could then be a "start at both coasts and meet in the middle". Or heck, any time there's two of anything you know they are going to get raced!

Being hybrids, the vehicles could easily show up at events that a typical homebuilt EV never could, just due to range issues.

You could call it the Not1Drop tour - going around the whole country, without gasoline, meeting cool people, shooting video, powering the cars on whatever you have that's local. "Oh, what's that, you know a guy with a wind turbine. Hey, let's go visit him!" Zig Zag across the continent sharing the DIY work ethic, Open Source sharing, and good clean fun.

Find a sponsor if you can, but I think this one is going to the people.

I think this really might be a good idea, as it meets a couple of the criteria I've been thinking about.

1) Something new
As far as I know, there has been very little done with with plug-in hybrids, other than the Prius-hacking, and even the best of those still use gasoline as the main fuel, and typically can't put a charge back into the aftermarket pack.

2) Something good comes of it.
By creating an Open Source Plug-In Hybrid, other people will be able to design their own vehicle which can use a variety of fuels, including renewables, and be either ultra-clean/efficient or long-range, depending on the need.

3) Something I can't do by myself.
I only know the basic theory of diesel engines and AC motors. I sort of get how battery chargers work. I know that microprocessors can be amazing at automating things, but I've never really programmed one. But I think I could figure out those things.... with help.

A lot of help.

I really have no idea what I'm doing. But I'm trying. I'm learning. I managed to build an electric motorcycle, and an electric car (and hybridize it!).
I have drive (Pun intended) to do something.

Maybe you have mad skills programming code, but don't have time to mess around in a driveway or shop to work on a car. Can you solder electronics and ship them to me? You have a new idea for a battery monitor? Can you give me lessons on how size an appropriate diesel engine? How about graphic design? The whole project could really use a look and some awesome decals for the side of the car!

This could be the people's tour. Many hands make light work. Be a part of it.


What do you think? Is it a good concept? Is it doable? What can you add to this project?

Your input desperately needed.