So we have the existing car stock, its burning petrol, the existing car stock will last a few decades.
The need is obvious: clean, affordable retrofits to existing cars.
Options:
Straight plug in EV. Pull out the gas motor and put attach an electric motor to the drive train. Use whatever battery you like.
Diesel conversion. Yanking the petrol engine and replacing it with a super efficient 2 stroke diesel engine. The trick here is to have a manual and attach a torque converter to engine. This solves the torque issue with the weaker engine and allows you to zoom around in 3rd without shifting. Could reasonably expect to see a small car get 60 mpg with this setup.
Range extended plug in EV. Same as the normal plug in EV but add a super efficient 1 or 2 stroke diesel engine attached to a generator to dump power into the DC bus when the batteries are running low.
Wheel motor EV. This is the whole reason I wanted to write this post. It is possible to build wheels with the electric motors inside them. Some companies have made prototypes, as you can build a frame that would accept any type of car body. This would have a large advantage in a retrofit situation because wouldn't have to mess with retrofitting an electric motor into the existing drive train. You wouldn't even need a drive train, or nearly any of the existing mechanical systems in the car. Just a battery pack and new wheels. Obviously the price of the motors is a huge issue, but if that were in line the rest of the conversion would be easy. Conceivable that you could add this to a car without yanking its petrol motor and make it a default hybrid. Would there be any issue with the wheels pulling themselves at the same time that the drive train is pushing them?
You could build a new vehicle with wheel mounted motors to take advantage of air resistance like the apterra. By lifting the vehicle and using only three wheels you can cut the drag coefficient of a car in half. Installing the wheel motor in the back wheel would reduce price by needing only one motor.
Either way, if you could make this conversion into a financially feasible investment, it can become a source of green collar jobs. The brand new fuel cell-hydrogen-luxury car is sexy, but its customer base is too narrow. Change needs to engage the middle 80%.
The need is obvious: clean, affordable retrofits to existing cars.
Options:
Straight plug in EV. Pull out the gas motor and put attach an electric motor to the drive train. Use whatever battery you like.
Diesel conversion. Yanking the petrol engine and replacing it with a super efficient 2 stroke diesel engine. The trick here is to have a manual and attach a torque converter to engine. This solves the torque issue with the weaker engine and allows you to zoom around in 3rd without shifting. Could reasonably expect to see a small car get 60 mpg with this setup.
Range extended plug in EV. Same as the normal plug in EV but add a super efficient 1 or 2 stroke diesel engine attached to a generator to dump power into the DC bus when the batteries are running low.
Wheel motor EV. This is the whole reason I wanted to write this post. It is possible to build wheels with the electric motors inside them. Some companies have made prototypes, as you can build a frame that would accept any type of car body. This would have a large advantage in a retrofit situation because wouldn't have to mess with retrofitting an electric motor into the existing drive train. You wouldn't even need a drive train, or nearly any of the existing mechanical systems in the car. Just a battery pack and new wheels. Obviously the price of the motors is a huge issue, but if that were in line the rest of the conversion would be easy. Conceivable that you could add this to a car without yanking its petrol motor and make it a default hybrid. Would there be any issue with the wheels pulling themselves at the same time that the drive train is pushing them?
You could build a new vehicle with wheel mounted motors to take advantage of air resistance like the apterra. By lifting the vehicle and using only three wheels you can cut the drag coefficient of a car in half. Installing the wheel motor in the back wheel would reduce price by needing only one motor.
Either way, if you could make this conversion into a financially feasible investment, it can become a source of green collar jobs. The brand new fuel cell-hydrogen-luxury car is sexy, but its customer base is too narrow. Change needs to engage the middle 80%.