I'm not sure about the civic hybrid, but I know for sure that the insight hybrid uses the hybrid drive motor as a motor, generator, and fly wheel, thus saving the weight of the fly wheel, and helping to smooth out the imballence in speed of the engine as it rotates.
Quote:
diesel_john
As i understand it, the regen part is where it gets expensive. just a dc drive probably wouldn't cost more than 8 or 9 K$.
|
It shouldn't even cost that much, I was thinking $3,000-4,000 $700 or so for a really nice electric motor, $1,000-1,200 for lead acid battery pack, more for other chemistry, $1,000 for speed controler, wiring, and other electronics, and of course any of those parts can be upgraded for better, this is of course figuring that you are doing a pure electric vehicle, not a hybrid.
windmills on a car is just a bad idea, it's almost as good as useing boat ankers as a brake, they are going to do a lousey job of slowing you down in a comfertable way, and when you want yoru vehicle to move they are only going to slow you down, and if you are dreaming of powering your electric vehicle with on board wind... remember that to get reliable wind, you need to be no less than 30 feet higher then anything within 500 feet, this includes the roof of your car and people standing around, to do any less is a waste of money.