Quote:
Originally Posted by ncc74656m
So the gist of this is that if I am not using basically a custom or kit car, I shouldn't be able to ever expect more than 50 mi on batts alone, correct?
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On a stock vehicle, probably yes. More than that, and you're overweight for the design of most passenger vehicles (with lead acid, that is. You can get a lot further with Lithium Ion.)
However, if you're willing to do the beefing up where necessary, and upgrade springs, axles, brakes, etc., I don't see why you can't do more than 50 miles. In fact, check out the Karmann Ghia conversions on the EVAlbum. There are several that do 50 miles on lead acids, because the aero is good and there's enough trunk space for the batteries. Beef up one of those (maybe even put in a full racing tube frame for strength), upgrade the suspension and brakes with Porsche parts and you can build a mean machine on the fairly cheap. (And registration is cheap and easy.)
As to the hybrid bit, the simplest way is to find a 12-20kW generator head, bolt it up to the same size motor (a Honda Helix 250 motor, for instance, is liquid cooled and around 15kW before any mods), and run the wiring to your on-board charger. You don't necessarily need a lot of watts--just enough to keep up with or slightly surpass freeway cruising draw (10-18kW for most small cars.)