Quote:
Originally Posted by Stubby79
I don't see why they couldn't cram a small(10hp?) engine somewhere on board for backup power. It wouldn't add a lot of weight, if you kept the fuel tank small. It could be an add-on, like A/C, for those who actually want it. It would have to be designed to be there from the start, otherwise good luck making the components fit.
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Came here to say this.
You don't have to design the parts to fit from the start.
When I first read about a homebrew hybrid, it had been done about 1980 (correction: 1979) by a guy bolting parts into an Opel GT.
Lemme tell ya - that ain't a roomy engine compartment. I know from bloody-knuckled experience. But this guy made it work in that little thing, so it can be done by a guy under a tree.
There's a couple of typos - I'm pretty sure the vehicle doesn't actually pull a mere .23A at cruising speed, that's probably supposed to be 23A - but it's compelling to see the builder say that driven carefully the car has essentially unlimited range. Mother went on to build their own, this time in a more practical Subaru 4-seater and with an 11hp diesel under the hood. At that point you're looking at a vehicle that really can take whatever hills you have.
So long story short, what we're talking about is a Volt that is a lot heavier on the electrical bits and lighter on the gas bits. Right?
It's been done. It works. It works well enough that unoptimized homebrew projects even work well, so it would work even better if done by a company that could crunch the numbers, apply the perfect engine etc, right?
I mean, shoot - repurpose a reefer Kubota diesel to turn over a genset and there's your oily bits done and done. I'd drive that.