F-250 Dually Diesel - Considering Electric add on - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

trikkonceptz · 05-09-2010, 03:41 PM

Hey guys,

At my disposal now I have a 2003 F-250 Dually, diesel. In the coming months I will be working on it slowly to bring it back to its mechanical greatness and eventually put it back on the road to see what kind of numbers one can dial out of this type of truck.

Regardless today I was considering the following;

What if I added an electric motor to help drive the rear wheels once the truck was moving or possibly to get it into a roll.

The how is what I want to ask about ... Fabrication aside, would it be possible to attach a transfer case to the drive shaft closest to the rear axle and attach an electric motor to the transfer case?

Its the same prinicipal as a 4wd to the front, my only concerns are about the gearing inside the transfer case and how to engage the electric motor once the vehicle is rolling etc ... Also, I am not sure how many neutral drops the automatic transmission can handle before I have to scrap it and switch to a manual ..lol

Has this approach ever been taken?

Thanks ..

ModelE · 05-09-2010, 03:48 PM

methinks that you should make it a hybrid... a lá chevy volt style. Get a good strength electric motor, hook it up to a small battery pack, then the battery pack to a generator motor, then have the generator motor hooked up to a small internal combustion engine, maybe a 3cyl diesel or a small Honda gas engine. That's a project that I have my sights set on for the future, though i'm thinking of basing it on a f-350 chassis cab with a custom fabbed rear end.

ShadeTreeMech · 05-09-2010, 04:56 PM

I was at one time considering (and still am in the future) making my explorer a hybrid.

I asked Ben Nelson (the electro metro guy) much the same questions, and he thought having the electric motor situated where you could easily disconnect it from having to turn would be advantageous. What you could do is replace the transfer case with an electric motor, and assuming you have automatic locking hubs, you'd be able to stop the motor from being forced to spin from inside the cab. And by replacing the driveline with one from a 2wd F-250, you'd still have 100% of the normal abilities of the diesel. Having a 5 speed would be advantageous, but you could still reap the benefits of hybrid technology without having to rebuild the entire vehicle. In the instances you actually need 4wd you can engage both the front axles driven by the electric motor and have the diesel engine driving the rear. You'd end up with more horsepower than stock to boot.

trikkonceptz · 05-09-2010, 07:01 PM

You make great points about that, however I perhaps did not explain myself clearly.

The vehicle IS a 2wd. I would fabricate mounts to place a trandfer case near the rear axle instead of the end of the transmission. And use the transfer case to take the electric motors power straight to the rear end. I am guessing to do that I would have to place the transmission in Neutral while the electric motor was in power ...

Hope that helps ..

RobertSmalls · 05-09-2010, 07:42 PM

This idea came up again at the GGP yesterday. Converting a 4x4 platform into a FWD gas + RWD electric is probably the easiest way to get a DIY hybrid. I know it's not exactly what you had in mind, but it's something to consider.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...awd-12402.html

The F250 probably isn't a great platform for a two-mode hybrid. You'd need a really big motor to get it underway, and lots of (expensive, heavy) batteries to give it any kind of range.

However, if your goal is to improve the F250 any way you can, I think it would be great if you had a hybrid system with regenerative brakes and enough assist to allow you to go engine-off occasionally.

You should study the Tahoe/Yukon hybrid, which gets +6 EPA City MPG (+40%!) vs the Tahoe XFE. Maybe you could source some parts from it.

Clev · 05-09-2010, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trikkonceptz

You make great points about that, however I perhaps did not explain myself clearly.

The vehicle IS a 2wd. I would fabricate mounts to place a trandfer case near the rear axle instead of the end of the transmission. And use the transfer case to take the electric motors power straight to the rear end. I am guessing to do that I would have to place the transmission in Neutral while the electric motor was in power ...

Hope that helps ..

Why not lose the transfer case, put in the front-end from the 4x4, drive it directly with the electric motor, and use the locking hubs to disconnect it when you're not using it?

Tygen1 · 05-10-2010, 01:49 PM

I won't comment on the Electric drive part, but the 7.3 Diesel can be made much more effcient. Most focus on making more power with those motors, but all those mods are doing is taking better control of the fueling, thus they also work to make better mpg...which is a little counter intuitive to the gasoline engine mindset. Anyhow: single shot injectors, better fuel delivery lines that are regulated, better HPOP and such will really help out. The ATX will be a problem, especially if they beat on it, it will slip. There are better ATX's but they get real expensive...MTX will be much better suited for what you are doing. Because these get such bad mpg to start with, just a small change will have a big effect in fuel cost.
Hope this helps...