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Old 11-05-2018, 10:42 AM   #26 (permalink)
bennelson
EV test pilot
 
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Oconomowoc, WI, USA
Posts: 4,435

Electric Cycle - '81 Kawasaki KZ440
90 day: 334.6 mpg (US)

S10 - '95 Chevy S10
90 day: 30.48 mpg (US)

Electro-Metro - '96 Ben Nelson's "Electro-Metro"
90 day: 129.81 mpg (US)

The Wife's Car - Plug-in Prius - '04 Toyota Prius
90 day: 78.16 mpg (US)
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Right now, I have the possibility of buying an entire crashed Chevy Volt. It's from the mother in law of a guy I know. She ran a light and crashed it, but drove it away from the accident, so even though it looks bad, the driveline is OK. The insurance buyout on it is $2500.

I think I would buy it just for the battery plus the other great parts on it. BUT, I also wonder about using the driveline to build a FRONT-WHEEL DRIVE plug-in hybrid pickup truck.

My S10 is rear-wheel drive, NOT 4x4. I know that front drive hubs are available. Rock auto even carries the front half shafts from the Electric S10 Chevy made. I know the devil would be in the details, as the Volt is complicated and there would be so many sensors, CAN, etc to work with and figure out. A pickup with a Volt drive train would be pretty much EXACTLY what I want. However, it would be complicated...

I DO have access to getting a very inexpensive AC motor and controller appropriate for direct connection to a driveshaft. A friend and I salvaged it off a large van. It worked for an E-350, so it certainly would work for a compact pickup truck. That was a Solectria motor and an Azure Dynamics controller. That may have been the same combo used in some of the Ford delivery truck conversions. https://300mpg.org/2017/11/21/ev-sal...ller-from-van/

I looked at the torque specs and everything for that motor, and it should work pretty well. My existing S10 has 4.11:1 gear reduction at the differential. Based on that and the tire size, 65 MPH is at 3000-3300 rpm. That motor runs peak torque full out until 2000 rpm, so it would always be able to provide maximum torque up to about 45 MPH, which would be perfect for in-town use with NO transmission. Although torque would drop for freeway speed, it would still have enough horsepower for direct-drive power on the freeway.

The big downside of that motor is that it does NOT have a tail shaft. So, I would NOT be able to use the motor IN the driveshaft between the engine/tranny and the differential. I couldn't easily use it to create an inline hybrid.
AC would be great for regenerative breaking too. Could it possibly be belted to the driveshaft? That gets to be more machining and complexity. I love the idea of the simplicity of an inline motor.

I DO also have a 13" double-shafted forklift motor. It's a monster and could easily be used as an inline motor BUT it's DC. I still take a lot of flack on YouTube for using a DC motor in the Electro-Metro videos. (Happy 10 year anniversary, Electro-Metro! You were a great car!) I'd love to be using an AC motor for my next project instead of a DC one. There also get to be issues with things like brush timing when I'd also need to be able to reverse the motor to back the truck up (without turning on the engine!)

A good motor for a hybrid could be a HPEVS AC50 or AC51 with matching controller. There's a double-ended version available and it would have the torque needed for direct-drive to use as an in-line/pass-through motor. I also like that it's a commercially available motor, so whatever I would do in the project could be duplicated by others.
Unfortunately, the motor and controller together would be around $5,000.

I also know a bus company which has a couple of hybrid busses. Last time I talked to the owner, he said the hybrids weren't working as well as he had hoped (in terms of ROI, etc. He also said that the solar they installed to power the busses is FANTASTIC!)
There's a possibility that I could get one of those motors from him. They're HUGE and AC, but I have no idea what they would need for a controller.

One other possibility is to get a 4x4 truck and connect a motor through the front drive axles. I don't have a 4x4, but I do see 4x4 S10s around pretty commonly for not a lot of money. They do tend to be automatic transmissions. One thing I liked about the idea of an inline motor is that I'd use a manual transmission. I could just put the truck in neutral and kill the engine (ignition disable switch) to have the truck on but just running as EV only mode. I even have an old-school manual steering box, so steering would be the same whether or not the engine was on.

I have NO experience with 4x4s, and I'm less experienced with mechanical stuff than I am with electrical.

So, anyways, different ways that I could go to build a PHEV Pickup truck...
  • Cram a Volt into an S10 - cheap, would have to figure out front drive axles, complicated sensors/CAN etc. Would be great project though!
  • Solectria/Azure Dymamics AC motor - cheap AC, but can NOT do an inline motor, great for an EV only conversion.
  • HPEV AC50 - I love that it's commercially available and that other people could repeat what I do. Potentially the best for teaching and getting others to consider something similar, but probably the most expensive option as well.
  • DC Monster motor - Cheap, got the part, but DC, issues with brushes, timing, reverse, no regen.
  • School Bus motor - massive, unknown requirement for controller. Not even sure I could get one or not.
  • 4x4 Hybrid - Four wheel drive would be cool, but I'd need to get a different truck. I know nothing about 4x4. Lots of mechanical things I don't understand.

Perhaps there IS a way I could use the Solectria AC motor with a driveshaft? (belted, etc.) It's a great motor and totally on budget, I just wish it had a tail shaft.

Otherwise, could that same motor be a good candidate for connecting through a transfer case/4x4 system?

What other ways could I build a PHEV truck?
Please, send more thoughts my way. I can't believe how many years it's been since I originally wanted to do a hybrid truck and STILL nobody is doing it. Almost impossible to find any DIY info on one OTHER than guys throwing a generator in the back of an EV pickup truck.

Let's keep this discussion going and figure out the best way to do one!
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