Hybrid Electric Scion xB
 

Below are pictures of my show car, a 2004 Scion xB. It has been shown in this condition for 2 years earning every accolade I could possibly want, yet it has never netted me any gains other than friends and connections. Well dew to the economy and the price of gas I have pulled it off the show circuit for the rest of the year because it costs me way to much to travel with it. So I decided to put it down and begin fixing all the problems it has and basically redo it for the next show season.

Well I wanted to take this to the next level and take advantage of the down time and convert my B to a hybrid extended range electric car.

Here are my plans and I want your help in order to make this as efficient as possible with both as little down time as possible and at the least amount of money as reasonably possibly.

-Obtain the rear end assembly of the Japanese bB, which is AWD
-My interior is already gutted so I will simply build around the new components
-Use 2 motors to achieve a hwy speed of 70mph with a range of 300 miles or more based on the set up
-Tap my current sponsors for help. Like Tsunami, which sponsored my vehicle last year and provided my with all wiring plus two dry cell batteries which are half the size of a compact car battery but have as much CCA as a marine cell.
-Now here is the biggie; Transverse mount my gas engine, which means disengaging it from the tranny and using the engine to soley power the vehicle accessories like, a/c, engine alternator, PS, etc ...
-I would then build a shaft off the crank in the rear with a gear drive or pulley system that would power multiple high output alternators. How many I will have to calculate, but I can easily use multiple 240 amp alternators to achieve the charging ratio I need to maintain long distance driving.
-The vehicle already has an air suspension capable of handling the weight, which I can adjust to achieve max mpg for under car drag etc ...
-I am going to have another sponsor of mine, Dakota Digital, expand my current digital gauge set up in order to accomodate any gauge needs that may arise during the build.

This is the simple planning stage, so what I need from you guys is opinions on what type of electric motors I should use, etc ... and even if I should begin to incorporate solar paneling in my roof, which is completely flat. I figure if done right, which I capable of doing, I will have one of the first converted custom electric cars, plus a blueprint on how to retro fit gas powered vehicles. Hell if I am going to dump money into a show car, better have it work for me right? Oh yeah, that means I have to lose the Keg set up, which weighed heavy on this decision ... LOL

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you really want to make it echo freindly.. put in a small diesel and run it on biofules.. or even vegtable oil.. diesels are far more efficient.. especially if your running them at a consistant rate or RPM in a generation situation.. I saw a old "mother earth news" that has a car where a guy did something similar, he had a 10hp brigs and straton engine in it generating power for the battery bank and then put electric drive motors.. he was getting great millage with that setup.. the gas engine ran to keep the batteries and charged up and power the drive line .. letting the engine run at its peak effeciency range at all times .. it would be a show piece, imaging a small diesel lawn mower style engine chromed out under the hood.. look pretty cool.... you'd definatly get points for unique install.. coolest thing is you'd probably have the best electrical system for your stereo by far , considering it would have a large battery bank and on board power generation. and if you kill the batteries, gu under the hood and pull start the engine and your on your way :)

Love the tap :thumbup:

If you're going to mod it out with sponsor help, I'd see what you can get as far as higher efficiency solar panels a-la hymotion plugin. Maybe you can steal some design ideas from a Prius?

That was a consideration when I began to pencil this out, however, I plan on building this thing to be bullet proof and drive it. Therefore I do not want to negate the PS, A/C, ABS and all the safety systems the car already has, Airbags excluded because those have already been removed ...

Help me get around those issues and I will toss a chromed out 10hp briggs in there ...

Wow, nice car, and an ambitious project.

I also recommend going with a small diesel. Regardless of fuel, don't forget to have someone grind you a cam that's optimized for single-rpm operation.

Damn, my box is boring... but it gets me to work and back. I'm also attempting to hypermile my way to 33mpg while commuting and generally driving around town. So far, so good....

I didn't know that was possible ... Also the VVT-i is quite intelligent, would adding a cam throw off the ecu? As of right now NO-ONE has a hack for the toyota ecu and therefore tuning it may be difficult unless I go full on onboard fuel management system.