Hey gang,
Its been a while since I have posted last. Been slowly getting the parts ordered up. I was unable to get the 2 cylinder diesel engine due to the fact they sold out amazingly fast. This may have been a blessing in disguise as I found a new variable unit albeit at almost double the cost. This eliminates the need to figure out a way to adjust a fixed unit variably and would also save me time doing it!
So I will be picking up this unit for just under $2K delivered to my door step not bad for a brand spanking new diesel unit that is exactly what the recipe calls for. I am pretty excited about this find and looking forward to getting it under the shop lights.
Now that this is sorted out I will need to determine which turbo to run on this little guy. The goal is to produce around 25hp max out of this unit which is around an 11 hp bump. Ideally I will want to use a small enough turbo so that is spools up faster lower in the rpm range say around 1400rpm to 2200rpm this will help on fuel economy as I will be able to get into overdrive sooner and stay there for longer durations.
Another piece of the puzzle that I have been researching as of recently is duel fuel options. I have been researching this as a possible alternative to a larger battery pack. Essentially I would cut back the electric battery pack to a minimum level and use it for only start stop situations and limited regenerative braking thus turning Tigon into a micro electric hybrid.
The big advantage here is up front costs lets face it electric drive components are really expensive when using them to power a vehicle under electric only power. Hence why you do not see many diesel electric hybrids as you are taking a cost hit for the diesel and for the electric systems.
So is there alternatives?
That is what I have been spending much time researching since my last post. To my astonishment there is options available that will greatly benefit the diesel efficiency and fuel economy and that is by utilizing a duel fuel hybrid system. Now this is nothing new, people have been doing it for years with water/methanol injection and propane systems.
After reading up on water/methanol and propane I stumbled across CNG and that is really what sparked my interests. Come to find out its almost the perfect compliment to diesel and can be used in a diesel engine very easily.
So why did CNG spark my interests so much well its a very clean burning fuel cleanest in fact inexpensive fuel. It has a high octane rating there for allows the diesel to be burned more completely reducing diesel emissions and you guessed it increases mpg and can drastically cut total vehicle fuel costs. The cost locally right now for CNG here in my part of the country is $1.25 per (GGE) or gas gallon equivalent. Here in the US we have huge reserves of natural gas so in many respects it would help support our country to use CNG as a fuel source for vehicles.
The trick is CNG will not auto ignite so you still need to use some percentage of diesel in your fuel mix. You also want to do this because diesel fuel has more BTU than CNG and all other fuels for that matter which is a big part of why diesel cars go farther on a gallon of fuel. So what you do is use propane as a substitute not as a sole source of propulsion. This gives you the benefit of the diesel energy capability and in fact further enhances it by the higher octane properties of CNG.
You end up with a fuel mixture if set up and executed correctly that will allow you to cut total fuel costs, increase mpg, drastically cut emissions, and increase engine torque and horsepower! Add a little water/methanol injection into the mix and you have a system that can handle the added power levels and is extremely safe to use and benefit from!
You can safely use a mix of 80% CNG to 20% diesel at low to moderate engine loads without experiencing MPG loss! This is huge considering again here where I am from CNG is $1.25 per GGE compared to diesel that as of today is averaging $3.80 per gallon... This is a difference of $2.55 per gallon of fuel. That is a huge savings folks and in many respects makes you wonder if its even worth implementing the high cost electric components for an electric hybrid.
In my humble opinion the micro hybrid still makes sense from a cost perspective but full blown makes little sense at all since discovering the CNG option. The good thing is this will cut the cost of the project way down as I will not need to fork out so much dinero for the electric components and a simpler system can be designed such as a larger more capable electric motor in place of the stock alternator unit for start stop, no idle, regen braking and low speed accelerating situations. A small electric motor can be used one that has a peak of 20kw of power only for the cars needs. These can be found at low costs not adding big costs to the project. While the CNG systems do cost money they are much cheaper than going the electric hybrid route in which the car can be powered from electricity for distances of 40-60miles. Kits can be purchased for around $1,000 or you can try and go the home built route to save some coin.
I apologize for the long post but again I want everyone to understand my thinking and reasoning for the Tigon hybrid design. The project is taking turns as any vehicle project does and I want to make sure everyone is up to speed with the decisions being made here on the long journey.
GH
Today
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