Re: Hybrid project

[Michael A Perry <mperry@efn.org>]

One idea, I saw here, would work for a hybrid.

Build an EV of any type.

When you want to go further, mount a trailer behind it with a generator.

In most amatuer hybrids, that's basically what you have... an engine powering a
generator in an inefficient manner to produce power... which powers the
batteries (another inefficientcy unless it's directly consumed by the motor) and
thus extending range at a loss in weight.  With a trailer, at least you can
leave it behind.

>From what little I've learned, if you use 10 HP to move your car at speed, you
would probably need a generator closely matched to the HP output of a 13-15HP
ICE to achieve the power generation needed. (Something very close to those
figures, any way.) That is, if you didn't wish to see a loss in charge level
over the average. In the "factory" solutions I saw over the last 15 years (they
may be different in the last 3 years) they'd use an engine capable of delivering
nearly peak As of the car. It would charge when the car's batteries were getting
low, then shut down, to restart again when it was needed again. The theory was
that it would run at a constant RPM, avoiding that killer partial-power cycle.
At full power, it would produce less polution, but would consume more gas per
hour of running (and, in theory, less over the total distance covered by the
same weight of car.)