The alternator is very inefficient, and ditching it has shown gains of around 5% depending on how efficient the vehicle is in the first place and the electrical demands. That requires more battery capacity and a means of charging from the grid.
I think there are gains to be had by replacing the lead acid battery with another chemistry or perhaps a supercap, but they would be very small and likely not measurable. One of my projects is to measure the difference in efficiency between a lead acid and lithium ion battery someday by discharging it some measured amount, and then measuring how much energy is required to charge it back to "full".
|