I should be filling up my car tomorrow and be back in the 50 mpg range with it hopefully this tank if nothing else unknown is wrong with it. So it is pretty much ready for normal use. My long term goals have always been to add electric drive to the car somehow though.
So my criteria for how to do it are that it needs a a small set of batteries and would like to keep the costs reasonable. Reasonable meaning I would like to stay under $5000 if possible. My car is ~1500lbs right now so with me and any random junk in it I would say a maximum load of 2000lbs as it is now. I don't have lots of room inside the car to put stuff and taking up what little room is left with batteries would suck. My goal would be able to start and run only electric drive for 5 minutes at 35mph. Any longer or faster would be a bonus but if I can do that then I'm happy.
For the motor and controller this one seems like a good setup to me
Mars Brushless PMAC Motor with 250A Controller Kit and is complete for 1500 bucks. The only clue I have about what is needed is an online calculator that says it will pull 150 amps at 50mph flat ground with the weight of my car put in it. AGM batteries seem like a good choice since they are a bit stronger than regular deep cycle marine batteries. But maybe optima or some other types would be better?
With that controller I can run 48V and that is a good voltage range to modify the alternator to charge them if needed. I plan on not charging them with the gas engine most of the time but having the flexibility to be able to might be nice. A 48V charger would not be hard to either find or make to charge it at home. I could also Cover the trunk and hood with solar panels even though they would cost way more than they would be worth really.
As far as connecting the motor to the drive. I can add a sprocket to the drivers side cv axle and put the motor over top of the transmission. It would spin all the time while driving but that should not be much of an issue. I am not sure if it is possible to rig a clutch up to it to keep it from always having to spin. The suspension doesn't have much travel so the drive chain would not have any issues with binding or slack. I have read that a brushed DC motor would not work well spinning as fast as I would be driving it while under gas power. The brushless motor seems like it tolerates high rpms better according to it's specs.
So enough rambling. Does anyone think it would work or am I way off? I am not committed to buying any of the stuff I listed or even mounting it like I described. I am mainly trying to plan what to do and experiment with a spare Metro this winter and start putting it in my good Metro this spring. ٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶