Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid
"Green Tuners" want plug-in hybrids
For the past decade, tuners in the US - mostly in California - have been taking small front wheel drive cars and outfitting them with oversized tires, turbochargers or superchargers, outrageous wings and air-dams, nitrous oxide, and coffee cans bolted to the exhaust pipe. These cars inspired three Fast and Furious movies and tens of thousands ancient Cadaveliers and Luminas with absurd wings bolted on the trunk and more coffee cans on the tail pipe. Now a new generation of tuners are cropping up and instead of the Civic Si, they're using the Prius as a jumping off point. Instead of pressurizing the combustion chambers to within an inch of their life, they're aiming to squeeze as many miles as possible out of a gallon gas and whenever possible not even use the engine. To make this happen they're creating plug-in hybrids. Companies like CalCars and EnergyCS are converting production Priuses into plug-in hybrids. They're replacing the batteries with higher capacity units to allow the cars to run farther on battery alone. They're also adding the necessary wiring and control software to enable the cars to be plugged into a standard 110V outlet to charge at home. So far they claim to be achieving 100 mpg and a 50 mile range on the battery. They and other groups are also encouraging car-makers to create production PHEVs as GM committed to yesterday.
[Source: Reuters]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Peter 4:18PM (11/30/2006)
The trick with plug in hybrids is that you need a full power electric drivetrain AND a full power internal combustion drivetrain. You end up with a lot of extra weight, cost and complexity. Now, you can bias the electric half for lower speed commuting and downsize it a little bit, but not by a huge amount if you want to maintain a decent range.
If batteries get cheaper and achieve higher power density, the weight and cost penalties will be reduced. However, these same battery advances also considerably strengthen the argument for fully electric vehicles.
PS: Cadavelier is an awesome name for a car, but I'm guessing you meant Cavalier.
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davidl340 5:07PM (11/30/2006)
Well, I would consider myself a bit more of a muscle car fanatic then a tuner, but unfortunately, plug-in hybrids conversions are still out of reach for your typical car nuts. I have an 2005 Prius, and can't wait to convert it to a plug-in, but the price is just too high! and the electronics still too niche. I also run larger RC planes on electric, and the li-po batteries are just too expensive as is their alternatives for the scale it would take for a car (the technology in m1 cells aka a123 cells looks promising though, works well in my planes)
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Tim 6:16PM (11/30/2006)
Peter- You only need a full electric power train powered by batteries and a diesel-electric Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) for a "series" hybrid. Acceleration is all torque which is perfect for an electric drive train. Regen braking will replace much of that power used by acceleration. Long range cruising requires that you replace the electric energy that was used during acceleration. About 20-40hp should do it depending on your load. This much smaller engine and drive by wire tech means a very simple and robust power train. The APUs can be used on many types of vehicles which enhances economy of scale. The R&D was completed on this by GM years ago. http://www.autoworld.com/news/GMC/Series_Hybrid.htm. I believe they “pulled the plug” because their short-sighted majority (59%) stockholders http://www.ev1.org/gmoil.htm discovered it “wasn’t profitable” to release us from our petroleum addiction.
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Peter 6:44PM (11/30/2006)
Good point, a series hybrid does have the potential to reduce the size of the combustion engine. However, consider this scenario: you plug in your series hybrid, fill it up with a tank of gas, and go on a highway trip. At some point you will empty the batteries and the car will have to run on gas power alone. And at this point, if you spec a 20hp gas engine, you have a 20hp car until you plug it back in and wait for a charge.
Of course, the problems of limited battery capacity and slow charging times are even worse for an EV than a series hybrid. At some point battery technology will be good enough that the series hybrid design puts the total range of the car beyond what anybody would want to drive without a break. But just beyond that point, batteries will be good enough to make long range EVs a reality. Either way, it all depends on improved battery technology, so let's hope outfits like AltairNano and EEStor make good on their promises.
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Howard Lee Harkness 7:46PM (11/30/2006)
"At some point you will empty the batteries and the car will have to run on gas power alone. And at this point, if you spec a 20hp gas engine, you have a 20hp car until you plug it back in and wait for a charge."
Not a problem.
At constant highway speed, you don't even need 20hp, so you would be charging the batteries if the engine was running -- or you can manage the charging yourself if you know that the trip won't deplete the battery before you get to a charging point.
For stop-and-go driving, the battery supplies the extra energy needed for acceleration, while allowing the engine to run efficiently at constant RPM and load, charging while stopped (or braking), discharging while accelerating. Unless you are constantly drag-racing, 20-30 hp should be more than adequate, since it's an 'average'.
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Tim 8:02PM (11/30/2006)
Peter- I agree. Follow the autoworld link and/or Yahoo “EV1 series” for more info. Battery and/or capacitor tech is the key. I believe this newer tech with today’s newer more efficient electric motor and motor controllers will make what GM has already done even better. They could build it if they really wanted to. They could be leaders instead of followers if they wanted to. If only they weren’t in bed with Big Oil…
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CM 2:19AM (12/01/2006)
"Power Split" hybrids, like Toyotas Hybrid Synergy Drive, Ford Hybrid, and the upcoming GM "2 mode hybrid", are superior to series hybrids. Their planetary CV transmission allow the IC engine to run at a fairly constant high efficiency speed, just like series hybrids. They have 2 motor/generators, so like series hybrids, the IC can generate power to recharge the batteries, and it can run on batteries only whenever that is more efficient.
Power split hybrids can transmit a substantial portion of the power from the IC engine mechanically to the wheels, and mechanical power transmission is more efficient than electrical generator/motor power transmission, thus less conversion loss and more energy efficient operation compared to series hybrids.
For all those reasons, power split hybrids are better suited than series hybrids to make "pluggable hybrids".
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Tim 12:44PM (12/01/2006)
CM-Power Splitting is very complicated and expensive. Series is very simple and can be used as a pure EV at all speeds. The APU is only used to recharge the battery and add extra electrical power to the motors during heavy acceleration if required. Fewer parts = fewer repairs. Big auto loves parts sales.
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Peter 4:37PM (12/01/2006)
20hp is enough to overcome aerodynamic drag at 60-70mph, but only just. Driving uphill, into a headwind, or passing all require a lot more. And aerodynamic drag is the most important factor but not the only one: there are losses in the battery, transmission, and electric motor to contend with. And the issue that everyone is used to going 80-85mph. Ever try to drive a 50hp VW Bus up a hill? It will make it, but it will not be quick.
But even a 50hp gas motor is still a lot more efficient than the 250hp motors every mainstream 4 door sedan seems to "need" these days. I'm not saying there's no place for series hybrids, just that the same technologies that make them possible also give a huge boost to EVs.
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JDstudent 8:01PM (12/01/2006)
what they need is an electric car with a gas generator on board.
The EV-1 had a proposed trailer with a generator to extend the range when needed, but GM shot that idea down.
Thus you drive an electric daily and when you want to drive much farther you hook on the trailer and away you go. That way the extra weight is left at home until its needed and that improves the daily electric range for when you do not need it.
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