[debit.servus]

Hellow, brand new here.
My name is Paul, a poor boy with a 1986 Dodge B250 conversion van. Bigger than an SUV but can be lived in with most of the comforts of a conventional house or high class RV. I have been fitting the interior for 2 years for comfortable full-time living. The van gets me places, mostly without issue; had four 1000 mile road trips with it without any major breakdowns. Love cars from this era because the systems are user-servicable unlike most new cars. There are no electronics in this van to fry in an EMP event or not be supported by the automaker 5 model years down the road.

The van does has it's fair share of quirks for it's age. The engine compression is off, the carb is detuned and running rich, engine is running very poorly and inefficiently; but what's important is the van does get me places at 7.7 MPG. There is not a penny for another van or financing for a ultra-fuel-efficient van, so I need to make this one work out.

People keep saying how I should get a small car and camp it in while exploring the US and Canada, to save on gas. I don't believe in sipping gas on a sore ass, sleeping crooked in the back of a minivan or Prius; freezing in the dark and sweating in the heat to be able to fuel thousands of miles on a four figure income. At the same time I don't believe in travelling in a 50 foot land yacht complete with satellite TV, treadmill and wine cooler. Asking for 1-2 levels above where I'm at here.

If I did all the efficiency mods and tuned up the engine, and overall drivetrain; it would probably result in a less than double the MPG. Even with 14 MPG highway I still can't afford to travel thousands of miles on gasoline. Triple the MPG and it becomes swallowable.

One underunity fuel I am ready to build the system for is Wood Gasification, a refinery looking system that cooks wood into a gas that the engine can burn. After doing my research and feasability study, the cost-per-mile is significantly cheaper than gasoline; accounting all time and money costs including the wood gathering, processing and cost to maintain a broom closet size system.

The other underunity fuel system is a "Gas-Electric" traction system like how diesel electric locomotives runs. What I am envisioning is a large generator, which powers a 120v AC electric motor (or array of motors depending on cost), somehow connected to drive the propellor shaft after the transmission and before the differential. The motor(s) would be controlled by a low-tech pedal controller (like the speed pedal for electric sewing machine) directly or more likely relayed from the pedal controller due to the high current demand of the motor(s).

The idea here is to avoid using the vans detuned and inefficient engine by adding a low-tech gas-electric traction system, and take advantage of the efficiencies of electric power.

(viamotors com>vehicles>electric-van)VIA Motors Introduces First Extended-Range Electric Van[/url] This work van hybrid has a range extension engine, which kicks in after the batteries are dead. They say their van gets 33 MPG highway from their range extension engine and propreitary EV system. The system I am envisioning is like that sans batteries, and using low-cost & off-the-shelf components everywhere.
The system I am envisioning would be like the poor mans VIA Motors van without the batteries.

The whole system needs to be as low-tech, low-cost, modular and "how-swappable" as possible. Hot-swappable means a burnt out or unwound motor can be changed on the side of the road, same for all other components. Would prefer to keep the whole initial cost under $2000.

The same idea is applied in diesel electric locomotives the world over. Here it's scaled down, the electricity comes from a gasoline generator, and the motor(s) propel a 3.5 ton extended high-top van.

To get a grasp on the feasability and cost-effectiveness of my gas-electric propulsion system, a few questions to ask are:
-How many watt-hours are required to move a ton of weight 1 mile?
-How many HP does the traction motor(s) need to be to get a ton of weight to a speed of at least 50 MPH on flat interstate? How much HP to maintain the speed? How many watts per electric HP?
-The running watts the gasoline generator need to provide to power the electric motor(s), which propels the van at 50 MPH on flat interstate (speed of 50 MPH on flat interstate is a minimum system requirement)?
-Most Importantly: What would the equivalent MPG (eMPG) look like? I believe to calculate the eMPG, take the miles travelled in one hour and divide by the fuel-use-per-hour of the electric generator supplying power to the electric traction motor(s). I believe eMPG could be at least double or triple 7.7 MPG.

For those still unsure of what I am describing:
[gasoline generator]->[some kind of motor controller]->[giant traction motor(s) using some system to mechanically transmit energy to the propeller shaft between transmission and differential]->[The van and me going places of distance at considerably higher MPG compared to running the vans detuned, inefficient carburated V8 engine, in comfort and style].