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My question is: How much do you think a transmission and driveshafts weigh? At a ballpark, figure 75 lbs for a small-ish car like my CRX or a similar-year Civic.
Now, add two hub motors. What do those weigh? I'd guess more than 25 lbs each. You will need batteries to hold the electrical power you are generating. Maybe not as much as a hybrid uses, but probably not a lot less. Figure (going small) 50 lbs for batteries. And how much does a Sterling engine weigh? I don't know, but even if you get one at 10 lbs, you still need the cooling system (which adds weight, a small one might be 10 lbs?), and an alternator (which also adds at least a couple of lbs).
So you have added some waste energy recovery, but at the expense of quite a bit of extra weight. It would be very interesting to see what kind of trade-offs would be involved.
You could downsize the ICE, which would reduce the weight some more. Or you could eliminate it all together, like what was done by GM many years ago or Dean Kamen more recently...
Interesting ideas, though.
-soD
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