I just looked through there. The only reference I found to the Zapi was blowing it up.....
Even if you can do regen with a series-wound motor. I think you start to get into issues if you are going higher voltages, so that the brushes are advanced. That would also mean that you wouldn't want an electric reverse with advanced brush timing either.
AC motors avoid that issue, but require pretty high voltage, thus, MANY batteries (and their bulk and weight.)
Here's something I was wondering about.....
I was sort of imagining that a four-wheel drive ICE in front EV in rear parallel hybrid might use a pickup truck rear live axle, and have the electric motor more or less directly connected to that. Truck rear axles are simple, and there are plenty of them around.
I wasn't really thinking about what else was out there that was rear-wheel drive. The other day, I got an e-mail from somebody about "Has anyone ever done a VW Golf EV conversion?". Of course the answer is yes, and I pointed the person to the Volkswagen section of the
EV Album. Once I was there, I realized that half of the VW EV conversions were Beetles - which were rear-wheel drive.
What would it take to put a VW Beetle rear-wheel drive system into a front-wheel drive Golf or a Rabbit Pickup truck?
Correct me if I am wrong, but the VW Beetle already has a long track record of EV conversion and is known for simplicity. I believe that the transmission/axle is right in the middle of the the two rear wheels, and that the engine comes out back behind the wheels, right? That sounds like a nearly ideal setup to add an electric motor to. I know that there are even already stock adapter plates a person can buy to go from the motor to the transmission.
Another thing I was wondering about is -
Series-Wound DC motors have lots of torque, but generally are not good as generators. If directly connected to the differential, there would also be unneeded wear on the brushes, as the motor would spin with the back wheels as the front-wheel ICE is propelling the car.
From what I hear, an AC motor directly on a rear differential just won't have the torque wanted for pushing around the car. It really needs the gearing of a transmission. But maybe not all the gears? Could it be adapted to just have LOW and HIGH for example?
If a series-wound motor was on a rear transmission, the tranny could be used to put it in neutral, and not have brush or bearing wear on the motor when in ICE mode.
How difficult fabrication-wise would it be to adapt a VW Beetle back-end to a Golf or Rabbit? It would have the advantage of being all metric, might even take the same size tires/rims/bolt pattern.
Your thoughts?