Video: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/this-could-be-big-abc-news/kit-turns-car-hybrid-170717691.html
If you could buy a kit for $3k, would you? A 40-50% increase in MPG would be kind of cool.
Seems like a pretty good idea to me. Particularly since it requires no major modification to the car.
Seems like a much better idea compared to buying a whole new car.
Discuss.
You would be hard pressed to get a 40-50% increase in mpg without a decent battery bank. That ain't happening for $3k. Add to that everything that sucks about adding 50lbs of weight to a wheel and I am calling the product vaporware.
what i wanna know is how when i put the ms6 brakes on my car and only have 1/8th inch between caliper and wheel how that will fit?
I've heard of this kit, IIRC the range is very short though, but it's a good idea, only downsides are an overall weight increase and a massive increase in unsprung weight on the electric-powered axle. Could be a good thing to put on a DD and it gives you an entire backup powertrain.
No mention in the video of the motor controller, or of the battery pack required. They'll both take up a lot of space. I doubt they can sell it for $3k either - I recall some years ago seeing a demonstration of a similar motor and controller for an industrial application and it was a lot more expensive than that.
I do think it's an interesting idea. As far as that goes, putting electric motors in the wheels isn't a new idea, those giant dump trucks you see used in open pit mines have had them for years and years - the diesel engines power generators, which run the motors in the wheels.
I think wheel motors are the next big thing. Drive a generator with a small engine and have 2 or 4 wheel motors. You could have a FWD Miata or a RWD Fiat 500. What about an AWD Smart? I'd love to see cars become somewhat more interchangeable. Imagine swapping wheels and gaining power, lol.
$3000 will buy app. 800 gals of gas. Good for something like 20k miles.
Depending on the vehicle of course.
Well, on my E150 that 800 gallons only gets me 12000 miles and I drove 70000 miles last year. That's almost 5000 gallons of gas a year. The extra 50# on the wheels wouldn't even be noticed, since it doesn't exactly handle or ride like a dream. I've got plenty of room for batteries and spending as much on gas as I do, it would be tempting to save some of that. Even at a 20% increase in fuel economy, payoff would actually happen fairly quickly. At steady cruise I get probably 20+ mpg, in traffic, where the hybrid systems really shine, I probably get under 10.
I thought it was interesting take on a new technology, that could actually be applied to a existing vehicle.
but would your heavier/larger vehicle generate any more power? Because its going to take more power to get it moving and thus make the whole system less effecient
Jaynen wrote: but would your heavier/larger vehicle generate any more power? Because its going to take more power to get it moving and thus make the whole system less effecient
And there is the rub, at what point is the trade off not worth it. The designer tested it on a Honda Accord, my van weighs twice that. That means twice the power necessary in the entire system.
I would rather wait for these to get cheap. 
They look like a CRX and they are getting to be over 10 years old. Finding new batteries might be a challenge.
In reply to Snowdoggie:
Those things have a very serious following. Replacement batteries are not a problem.
In reply to Toyman01:
You can self hybridize a big truck waaaay easier than you can hybridize a car. The problem is the guy with that wheel motor system is full of E36 M3. He can't really sell a system that increases the MPG as much as he says for $3,000.
Why pay $3000 when I can build you a "hydrogen generator" for the low low price of $500!?
MrJoshua wrote: In reply to Snowdoggie: Those things have a very serious following. Replacement batteries are not a problem.
Cheapest price I could find for a remanufactured battery pack is about $2,000. Not exactly challenge priced.
There has got to be a way to make a battery pack for one of these out of old Yugo batteries or a bunch of laptop batteries.
MrJoshua wrote: In reply to Toyman01: You can self hybridize a big truck waaaay easier than you can hybridize a car. The problem is the guy with that wheel motor system is full of E36 M3. He can't really sell a system that increases the MPG as much as he says for $3,000.
Probably true, but I bet I could build something similar for about that.
I'm thinking a fixed armature like what he has, but with the permanent magnets mounted on the wheel itself.
I think it would be a fun project, at the minimum it's a fun mental exercise.
Does a Prius use a brushless motor? If so a wrecked one could provide the controller.
No one has questioned the heat effects on rear brakes.
Magnets and heat do not play well.
Shrouding the brakes can only decrease their effectiveness.
Replacing the stock flywheel with an aluminum one, having the magnets embedded might be a better overall strategy.
Yes, requires splitting engine/trans, but so does changing the clutch.
Here's another interesting design. This one goes inline with the driveshaft.
And another.
poopshovel wrote: Why pay $3000 when I can build you a "hydrogen generator" for the low low price of $500!?
I think it is sad that people fall for that rubbish.
Toyman01 wrote: Well, on my E150 that 800 gallons only gets me 12000 miles and I drove 70000 miles last year. That's almost 5000 gallons of gas a year. The extra 50# on the wheels wouldn't even be noticed, since it doesn't exactly handle or ride like a dream. I've got plenty of room for batteries and spending as much on gas as I do, it would be tempting to save some of that. Even at a 20% increase in fuel economy, payoff would actually happen fairly quickly. At steady cruise I get probably 20+ mpg, in traffic, where the hybrid systems really shine, I probably get under 10. I thought it was interesting take on a new technology, that could actually be applied to a existing vehicle.
I have a feeling that at 70k/year, you spend most of your time in the highway, where a hybrid system just goes along for the ride.
Derick Freese wrote: I think wheel motors are the next big thing. Drive a generator with a small engine and have 2 or 4 wheel motors. You could have a FWD Miata or a RWD Fiat 500. What about an AWD Smart? I'd love to see cars become somewhat more interchangeable. Imagine swapping wheels and gaining power, lol.
Ask Porsche about that. Meet the Lohner-Porsche, circa 1900.
FWD Miata? It was called the Capri RWD Fiat 500? It was called the, umm. "Fiat 500" 
In reply to Keith Tanner:
New 500 
The thing I wonder about all of these motor-in-wheel ideas is why people want to put them in sports cars, where we try so hard to reduce unsprung weight. I can see putting them on a truck, bus, or a commuter, but not a sports car.
You'll need to log in to post.
