Open Source Plug-In Hybrid Super-Truck
 

http://blogs.motherearthnews.com/upl...ucksub100k.jpg

Well, it’s time to throw my hat over the fence.

What? You’ve never heard that term before? Ok, let me explain. Let’s say that you really want to get yourself over the top of a fence. But it’s tall, and the top is pretty pointy. Maybe you’ll do it tomorrow.. So here’s what you do. You throw your hat over the fence. Now you HAVE to get over the fence. If you don’t you’ve just lost your hat! Not that too many people are climbing over fences recently, or even wearing cool hats for that matter, but here’s why I bring it up.

A couple summers ago, I built an electric car. In the end, it was a fantastic project. I was amazed at how much I learned, how many neat new people I met, and how proud I was to have my own personal transportation that didn’t use one lick of gasoline. If there was any single “secret” that I could give to anyone else on building your own electric car, it’s this: Tell everyone you are building an electric car. I mean it, everyone. Your friends, your boss, the postman, everyone. Why? Because there is magic in it. Ok, well magic might be a stretch – maybe it’s more meta-physical. Did you watch THE SECRET? Yeah, I know, it was a bit “airy-fairy” for me too. But there were a few things in that film that were pretty self-evident to everyone, things that you simply knew to be true. And one of those things is that saying you are going to do something MAKES it happen! At a bare minimum, you friends will start pestering you – “Hey, how’s that car project going?” and at best, the Universe will reward you for your intent, and start helping you on your way.

When I told all my friends I was building an electric car, people came out of the woodwork to help me. A friend who works in construction said that they were scrapping out their welding cable, and asked if I wanted it. “Sure!”. He showed up a few hours later and dropped off 150’ of 2/0 welding cable in my driveway. Wow – several hundred dollars of battery cable for free! (Thanks Mike!)

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. A lot of the other magic was things like “Do you know Hotrod Jim? He might be able to give you a hand!” Indeed he did. When I visited Jim, he was doing custom work on a mint ’57 Chevy that looked like it had been hand-dipped in chrome. I explained my project. Jim said he’s never worked on an electric car before. Suddenly, helping me out was at the top of HIS project list.

But why have I been wasting your time with several paragraphs about an OLD project? Because this is really about the newest one. For some time, I’ve had an idea rattling around in my head. It just keeps rattling around in there, getting louder, and I can’t get rid of it….

First, I built an electric bike. It was from a kit, and simple. Anyone could build one. Then I built an electric motorcycle - not much more complicated than the bike, but more time, work, and money to put together. Then winter happened, and I decided it would be better to have an electric vehicle with a roof and four wheels. By the end of the next summer, I had built an Electric Geo Metro. It was powered by a forklift motor, and eventually the motor controller was a collaboratively-built Open Source project.

http://blogs.motherearthnews.com/upl...lerDSC7990.jpg

The car was great, but relatively short range. So when a friend gave me a non-running LP generator, along with the repair manual for it, I started thinking HYBRID! I fixed up the generator, and mounted it in the trunk of the car, along with the LP bottle from my Bar-B-Q grill! Wow! A series hybrid that actually worked!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDLp2yAjfN8

Well, it worked, but the generator wasn’t exactly quiet. Also, it was running on propane, which burns clean, but is still a fossil fuel….

My gasoline vehicle is a Chevy S10 Pickup truck. I can get 30mpg in it in the summer. But it’s still running on gasoline. Hmmmmmm. Even the Prius runs on gasoline. And you can’t plug a stock Prius in to charge from the wall the way my Geo Metro can. And a Prius really isn’t designed to tow either. It would be nice to pull my utility trailer and teardrop trailer on occasion.

So here’s where things start coming together for me.

I have a pickup truck. They are a good platform for experimental vehicles, as they have a solid frame, and plenty of outside space both in and under the bed. A few years back, I picked up a diesel engine out of a Mercedes 240D. It’s a great engine, that has been very popular for vegetable oil conversions. While it’s not turbo-charged, it’s very durable and simple – no computer controls here.
http://blogs.motherearthnews.com/upl...ineDSC9162.jpg

I’m also a member of a hackerspace and DIY electric car club. A few years ago, we pulled some big forklift motors out of a junkyard. So far, we have two Ford Rangers running on them, and a Saab in the works right now. Those motors have both drive-shafts and tailshafts to connect either end of the motor. Some EV hot-rodders have even used that to connect two electric motors end-to-end to double the power of their vehicle. What if it was instead connected to a diesel engine?
http://blogs.motherearthnews.com/upl...torDSC6329.jpg

So, here goes. I present to you that I am going to build an Open Source D.I.Y. Plug-in Bio-Diesel/Electric Hybrid Pickup truck and share it with the world!

Have I ever done something like this before? Heck no. But I have played around enough with motors, engines, cars, cycles, and batteries to think that it is totally possible.

HOW will I do it? I have no idea.

But I also had no idea when I started the cycle or when I started my electric car. But I’m pretty good at learning by doing. I’m also pretty good at talking to folks and learning from them and making new friends.

One thing’s for sure. I’m going to need your help on this one. The project is going to take a while and I am certainly NOT going to be able to do it all by myself. But that’s the fun of collaboration – working together, learning, and sharing.

Look to this blog in the future for updates as the project picks up steam. (Steam! That’s a great power source too. Um, maybe for a different project…..)

I’ll be taking photos, posting YouTube Videos, and Twittering like a mad man once we really get going. (Yes, you can find me on Twitter now! - https://twitter.com/#!/300MPGBen )

Speaking of going – I’m headed out shortly to the Mother Earth News Fair in Puyallup, Washington. If you are going to be there too, come see me. I’m be giving a presentation on DIY Hybrid Vehicles, and I’ll be talking there more in detail about the Super-Truck project. (ecomodder's own MPaulHolmes will be there as well!)

If you have some ideas about the project, or even just a few words of “Yes! We can do this!” please let me know!

-Ben

Very cool, Ben.

I think it's worth linking back to the thread where you first started noodling about this idea, since there are lots of links and some discussion of other DIY hybrid conversions that got people's creative juices flowing:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...rid-20075.html

Wooo, I like throwing hats, though I've probably lost many in my statments of "I'm going to do X".

Do you have any idea of how you're going to start? Are you just going to start by getting the diesel installed before thinking/doing anything with hybridizing?

Rough Plan:

1) Convert Truck to Diesel

2) Make sure everything runs right as diesel

3) experiment with bio/diesel and veggie oil

4) Add motor and battery system

5) Aerodynamic cap and other misc. improvements.

6) Figure out the zillion little details of making it all work together.

In all seriousness, this will be a big project that will take a lot of time.
Ideally, for the EV portion, I want an open source: motor controller, charger, BMS, and instrumentation.

I'd also like the charger to run from 110 or 220V and be able to make use of J1772 chargers.

Figuring out things like how to balance a drive-shaft with a motor in it should be fun!

Solid state chargers like my Elcon charger have an input voltage range of something like 85v up to 260v, it doesn't have any switch or user input, you just connect the voltage you have that is within that range and it works! now there are open source chargers that more or less work the same way but the kit I saw was $400 and was not well designed or user friendly to build, the charger I bought that is plug and play was around $600, so totally worth the small extra cost.

I would put the experimentation with veggie oil lower on your list, sure it's a new area for you to get in to, but you can buy or make bio-diesel that will run in a stock engine and any modifications you need to make to make it run off straight veggie oil are already out there and well thought out, so my train of thought would say to stay focused on adding the motor in there then build the 2nd fuel tank and veggie oil system around that instead of it getting in your way.

Other then that, I think this sounds like a great project! and once I get my electric motorcycle done and a few of my own small projects around the house completed I'd be all for driving the 4-5 hours that it would take to help you out for a weekend or something if there was a point in time that it would make sense to do that.

The order of a couple of those items isn't set in stone.

I'd like to make an aerodynamic fiberglass truck cap, and that could happen in a timeline that's really not dependent on anything else.

The main thing is that I would like to keep the truck drivable as much as I can. That will make one less vehicle in my driveway!

Subscribed. This is gonna be good.

Get a FWD Lupo 1.2 TDI with a 6sp stick for the truck, that would be interesting combined with a rear AC drive motor :)

You would have regen and 4wd.

I've kind of thought about 4-wheel drive, AC motors, exotic trucks ("hey, why don't you use a 1947 Unobtainium?") and have in my mind eliminated a lot of that.

The reason is simple. I already have access to some more basic things, I already own them, they are easy to work on, and it's stuff other people can get their hands on too.

Make something from a lot of odd rare parts, and you might have a unique vehicle, but you wouldn't have one that anyone else would be able to make.

First - thanks for starting some very inspiring threads Ben!

DIY and low cost equals to DC these days - it means no regenerative use of motor... So I'd rather consider hybrid-plugin setup, like your DB diesel for high speed cruising and electric for all "unstable dynamics" like acceleration or stop & go traffic.

This way you'd start from you driveway with electric motor, then pass trough a few crossings and STOP signs and finally you get to 4 - 14 - 114 miles freeway part of route. As a conscious user you decide then to switch to diesel for this part because it's what diesel likes - long stretches of constant conditions... (of course it was already warm enough thanks to mains-fed electric heater with programmed timer...)

Yo're coming to destination town after consuming a few liters of biodiesel, being a conscious driver you flick the switch 700m before freeway exit so next acceleration is pure electric and so on to destination point...

This means there should be choice between drive source "in the fly" so some clutching/coupling system needs to be designed, knowing characteristics of available ICEs and electric motors I'd place this clutching/coupling device in front of transmission. But how? First idea is to have chain sprocket on transmission input shaft, second sprocket on separate driveshaft parallel to main axis and pointing rearwards, then some kind of "teeth clutch" (sorry, forgot english term for it) connecting to DC motor under rear bed.

We as ecomodders and DIYers have an advantage compared to GM/Toyota/other hybrid mfrs average customers - we can do with our brains what they don't know or don't care, relying on car's brain to do. It means that with few relative straight mods or builds we can achieve goals that manufacturers have been chasing for a long time being tied with average mental and knowledge levels of their customers. At least at designing and reserach/test stage we can steer our hybrid drivetrains manual way ;)

Yep, that's pretty much all exactly what I am thinking.

Here's some additional food for thought...

http://300mpg.org/wp-content/uploads...ine_marked.jpg
(Components not to scale, location approximate.)

2.4l diesel engine gets connected to 5-speed manual transmission. That will be a little bit of work, as they were never designed for each other.

On the back-end will go a DC, series-wound, forklift motor. It has both a drive-shaft and tailshaft, so it can physically be connected both to the transmission and a shortened drive-shaft (ala EMIS system)

Since it's a manual transmission, I could just put the stick in neutral to leave the diesel disconnected and drive electric only. That also means I would need a reversing contactor and neutral motor timing if I want to back up without the engine. (I would also need to make sure of some way to keep from accidentally making the motor run the diesel BACKWARDS!)

The batteries will most likely have to go in the bed. Since it's a hybrid, the fuel tank and exhaust system are still there under the bed. However, if I don't carry a spare tire, that frees up a bit of space behind the axle for some batteries.

Of course we don't want to forget about aerodynamics either.
http://300mpg.org/wp-content/uploads...ero_marked.jpg
That's just a rough drawing, but I think you get the point - trucks have bad aero, so fix it. An aero-cap and rear wheel skirts should help a bit. The truck might also be lowered, and I can experiment with a belly pan as well.

Well, there you have it, my rough idea, more or less.

Ideally, I'd like to run Open Source motor controller, charger, BMS, and maybe instrumention or display.

You are right - mounting a motor in line with the drive shaft will be a challenge, but doable for sure. How much torque does your DC motor have? From the pictures it looks massive and should be able to handle direct drive. But I wonder if mounting your motor to the side of the driveline and chain driving a sprocket integrated (welded?) to the transmission output yoke would work.
GOOD
-Simpler
-Further drive ratio reduction
-Easy ratio change
BAD
-Noisy
-Requires maintenance

The ultimate would be using a 4WD/AWD vehicle or a vehicle that was available as one, for example, my wife's Matrix. Install a rear differential from a wreck, driven by a motor. Front drive gasser/rear drive EV/AWD hybrid.

The motor is something like 12" diameter. Should be able to make some pretty good torque.

Two other guys that I know are using the same motor in Ford Ranger EV conversions. Of course that's with the motor going on the transmission in place of the engine, not going onto the driveshaft.

I'm sort of waiting for both those guys to give me some real-world feedback in how well the motors work for them, if they run into any issues, etc.

Physically, the motor is bigger than a Warp 9 and smaller than a Warp 13.

I have a couple photos of the motor at:
http://gallery.me.com/benhdvideoguy#103469

That motor should have more than enough stink for direct drive.

Once you have both the diesel and electric systems working, do you think you will remove the starter and alternator and rely on the electric motor for starting and a DC-DC converter for 12V? The alternator removal would make sense for efficiency in general, but in a home-made project, the redundancy of a starter might not be a bad thing.

Starter wouldn't be redundant! When You have to start the diesel (for whatever reason), when the truck is stand still, how will you do that with the DC motor? There is no clutch after the DC motor.

I would want to leave the starter. I wouldn't be able to start the diesel WITHOUT the back wheels turning. I've never bump-started a diesel before. Not sure it works quite as well as a gasser does, with the higher compression, etc.

It would be fun to try though!

Diesel engines bump start almost as easy. After the first "difficult" revolution, they actually spin easier than a gas engine because of no throttle plate. You have to see compression as a giant spring. You compress a bigger spring with a diesel, but this spring also pushes back harder to turn the engine on the way back down (on what would be the power stroke if the engine was running).

Easy. Put ICE in gear. Step on EV go pedal. EV motor turns driveline, moves truck and rotates ICE (all at the same time) to start ICE.
OR
Step on EV go pedal. Once vehicle is moving, push clutch & put ICE in gear. Dump clutch to start ICE.

Yeah, looks easy. Especially, when it's in the garage or tight space without runway, as i wrote "if you have to start the diesel for whatever reason". :rolleyes:

In my mind the point of hybrid is for regen, all is not lost with DC!

You can get regen with DC, you would need a shunt wound motor a few have made series wound do regen with mixed results.

What I wonder, Lee Hart had modded his curtis to do regen but it couldn't handle the amps since it wasn't very controllable, since you have an open source 500amp controller, why not build it to 1000amps and add Lee Harts regen, the stop would not be slow and gentle a good chunk of the time but it would be effective and add some juice back into the battery for the times you need it.

Also I don't think a 1.2 TDI is unobtainium, its just $2500-$6500 to your door which is a lot more than say a $200 5.7/6.2 diesel.

Ah well

I will have to see if I can find Lee Harts writeup on how to make a series wound motor and controller do regen.

I think by having a contactor to remove the field winding out of series and then hook it up to a 1v-3v or so power supply you probably could have easy regen.

I think its the logical next step since no one has bothered with regen and series since the 80's

Today, I stumbled across this drawing of the "Via E-Rev" powertrain.

Looks like it's what the Volt was supposed to be, only in a pickup truck.

The funny thing that I noticed is that it's exactly the same physical configuration of components that I was thinking of for a DIY Hybrid truck. The only difference is that the engine goes to a generator, and then to the motor, instead of through a transmission and physical connection to the motor. (So it's a series instead of parallel, even through all the components are in the same places and orientations.)

The downside to that is both the engine/generator and the motor system all have to be working at the same time. In my proposed setup, I would be able to drive on the diesel system while I'm working on the electric system.

http://www.viamotors.com/wp-content/...ain-inside.jpg

Note that the drawing does NOT show where the exhaust system and fuel tank are. On a typical pickup, both of those are where they show batteries.

Another Friend also thew out an idea.

'Twas great to see you again at the Mother Earth News Fair, Ben.
I've also got plans for a DIY hybrid dual-drive truck, this one being my 1987 F250 with the bulletproof 6.9 liter indirect-injected, naturally-aspirated International diesel; an engine that will run on anything that's thin and greasy! My approach is to use a T19 manual transmission with a Power Take-Off. Putting power in through the PTO would enable electric-only maneuvering (while holding down the clutch pedal). Disengaging the PTO would reduce mechanical drag for highway cruising. Using an HPEV AC20 or AC50 drive would also allow significant regen, and another small benefit of this approach would be to shift in neutral and use the hybrid drive to start the engine faster than the 12V starter (also eliminating the need for one of the two big 12V cranking batteries, and allowing stationary genset duty, as well as engine start/stop in traffic jams (EV only for a bumper-to-bumper crawl).

Sounds like a neat concept too!

Thats easy. The exhaust could be a side pipe that exits forward of the rear axle and the fuel tank goes behind the rear diff, at least on anything built on a full size GM truck frame.

I was also thinking that on a DIY project, a "fuel cell" gas tank could be used to save space, and free up room for batteries.

The truck project that I've seen had the gas engine driving the rear wheels and the electric motor driving the front wheels with the motor in the location that the transfer case would live, this was on a Ford Ranger and I thought that it was a pretty slick layout, the Ford Ranger is also common to have an extended cab where there is enough space for 12 6v golf cart batteries in the rear of the cab with enough space for solid racks and head room to check water, a sheet of clear polycarbanite and a small vent out the side or back window would take care of most safety issues.

But Ben, you have an S-10 so I'm not sure how everything lays out on that vehicle, but I do remember it as being a top choice for EV conversion because of the frame rail spacing under the bed.

hey guys,

I shot a short video yesterday.

I basically laid out the powertrain of the truck on the floor of the shop at the Milwaukee Makerspace.

Hope it all makes sense to you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ivdj_Wfb_Ro

I also have a little more on it at my blog as well:
DIY Hybrid Pickup Truck

I think it's like that "body parts song" - The kneebone is connected to the leg-bone.... Only it's "The diesel is connected to the tranny... The tranny is connected to the motor... The motor is connected to the differential....

Ok, well, you gotta at least know the melody and sing it. :D

Beat me to it.

I think it would be easiest and most efficient to have the electric motor drive the front wheels and the diesel drive the rear. That way, the Diesel and transmission can be in there proper configuration, and adding the electric motor where the transfer case would normally be would be a great solution.

That way, you have 3 options. EV Only, EV+Diesel (Assisted towing, acceleration, 4wd, etc), or Diesel Only... almost seemlessly.

I think you may run in to a lot of issues putting the E-motor inline between the transmission and the driveshaft.

Very cool, subscribed.

What is max rpm on that dc motor? I am concerned that it may over rev in that configuration. Could always go to taller rear end gears/ tires.

It's on the slow side of the transmission, so I don't think over-reving is an issue.

Barely fast enough.
A drive shaft on 3.08 gears with 30 inch tires is only going to turn 2100RPM.
That motor looked like a 13'' and those rev out to at least 5000RPM.
I just dont know if they like turning at real low speeds.

An DC EV motor can easily handle low RPMs, you just loose
Efficiency and Cooling

Meaning as long as he doesn't over do the amps at low RPMs it will work just fine, in fact many times low voltage DC motors only spin about that fast.

Where he can run into trouble is when the RPMs start getting in the 1200rpm and lower if he is stomping on it for extended periods.

I do know that initial runs with the electric motor will have to be watched for how many amps are pulled.

On my Electro-Metro, I can pull away from a dead stop with the electric motor in 5th gear, but acceleration isn't great, and it pulls high amps.

If the truck has better batteries than the Metro (face it, anything is better than the batteries in the Metro....) it should do OK.

The motor for the truck will be bigger than the one in the Metro as well. I could always add forced air cooling to it if I need to as well.

I'm leaving to go to the Mother Earth News Fair. I know, it's a week away, but we are driving out, and visiting relatives on the way.

If you want to meet up with me, please let me know.
Details at: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post327840

http://300mpg.org/wp-content/uploads...0/IMG_0701.jpg

There's only three things keeping me from getting really rolling on this project:
1. Time
2. Skill
3. Money


Ok, so we all have a set amount of time, we just have to "make time" as we can. I figure I can learn a few new skills on the way, but some of that means matching up time and place with somebody that I can learn from.

As for money...
This past weekend, I sold a fair number of items at a rummage sale. The total profit for me was $176.

So, that now brings the new total BUDGET for this project to....

$176!

I built the Motorcycle for $2000, the Electro-Metro for $1300, but I think I'll still need to raise a bit more to fully fund this project! :thumbup:

I'll be watching this closely, as I too have a 1995 S10, although my truck is extended cab and automatic. The rear of the cab has a fairly large amount of space, not enough for a human (those fold-out lunchbox seats are a joke!) but plenty for a dual 12" sub box I had in there. But I guess there's no difference between batteries in the rear of the cab, the front of the bed, or along the frame rails underneath. However, don't extended cabs normally get ever-so-slightly better aero?

What engine was originally in your S10?

This truck had the 2.2L GM 4-cylinder engine.

I would imagine that a slightly longer truck would have slightly better aerodynamics.

Minor updates:

I'm waiting on a reply from somebody about getting a pair of 12" forklfit motors.

I'm also trying to learn about fiberglass to get started on building a rigid tonneau cover, and later, a full aero-cap.

This looks like a relly cool project. Back when I had my 98 S10 I always dreamed of converting it over to a pure EV or even possibly a series hybrid. And when the engine died on me it seemed like the perfect oportunity... then it just took up space in my garage for almost an entire year while life carried on and I didn't have anywhere else to store it and I didn't even have the money to repair the engine so I just had to let it go.

Someday I would still love to do a pure Electric S10 but until then I will satiate my self by watching awesome builds like this.

Also not to put down your huge foam tonneau cover, but how much are you spending on that in material cost? I know you got the foam boards for free, but I only ask because over the years that I had my 98 S10 I was able to pickup 2 different hard tonneau covers for under $100 each. I even still actually have the flush mount one, I just cut it down so it would fit on my 88 S10. Also I'm pretty sure you have figured it out by now but the S10 beds taper from front to back by like an inch and a half.

Also I don't know if this will help any but here is a very detailed breakdown of an S10's design. It gives very detailed measurements and such of the body, frame rails and componant layout in these trucks.

http://www.gmupfitter.com/publicat/p..._Truck_pgs.pdf

Half the point of a foam tonneau cover is that it's learning experience for working with fiberglass and foam. I'm trying to keep materials cost to a minimum. Hopefully, it will be good learning experience for building an aero-cap.

I've already had some success with combining the cheapest form of fiberglass resin with the cheapest form of styrofoam.

I checked Craigslist, and didn't have any luck with finding used tonneau covers. I priced out new ones and was surprised at how quick they get expensive.

Thanks for that link, it looks like a great document. Lots of info in there.

-Ben