|
No, still haven't heard back from that forklift guy. I'd really like to call and hassle him, but hey, don't look a gift horse in the mouth either....
I think this project is going to be an exercise in "practical" fuel economy and driving, rather than "Theoretical Best".
While an alternator is mechanical and not ideal efficiency, it's also practical, reliable, and already there. For those reasons alone, I'd rather not remove it. Once the project is rolling, I may then be able to start experimenting with disconnecting it, and if everything works great, then remove it.
In general, I want things to be redundant at this point. I have a feeling that I'm going to be driving this truck on one system or the other BEFORE the other one is finished. Since it's home-brew and of questionable workmanship, the redundance will be handy.
When I converted the Metro, I welding a tow-bracket mount to the front. If anything ever went wrong (which was SEVERAL times) I could just tow it home with my pickup truck.
Since I'm now converting a pickup truck, it's going to have to tow itself home. That means that both the ICE and EV systems need to be fully functional by each ones self.
As Daox said, some sort of control over the alternator and DC/DC through the mode switch seems like a good idea.
As for having a DC/DC converter but NOT an alternator, I can see situations where I would drive until the battery pack runs out and then drive on the engine. At that point, I would need the alternator.
|