CrazyPhuD

So when it comes to hybrid technology the gains that you will see come from a group of sources. One of which is regenerative braking. Right now when we apply the brakes all the energy is lost to heat to slow down the vehicle. With regenerative braking you regain some of that lost energy, but the amount depends upon how hard you stop. Effectively this is 'free' energy.

Additionally in stop and go driving part of benefit is being able to completely turn off the engine and only us the electric. All hybrids when you stop at a light shut the engine off. If the power demands of city traffic are not that high then the car may be running only on the electric motor until it requires a recharge.

The final significant benefit of hybrids is their ability to use a much smaller gasoline engine that tends to run more efficiently. The engine may only need to put out 50-75 hp to cruise at highway speeds. To provide better power on demand, the electric motor will engage when the driver demands temporary additional power. Since electric motors tend to provide high torque at low RPMS, the driver will feel as if he has a bigger engine than he does.

As mentioned, the electric engine is mostly useless on the highway. In fact many people get better city gas milage than highway gas milage with hybrids. The posted city and highway gas milages for hybrids are often bunk because the way the test is done causes them to be overrated.

Is it a cool technology, yes, is it the end all be all....no. Personally I'd love to see hybrid sports cars(like the eclipse concept). Large low end torque from electric motors with a well tuned hi-revving engine for the high end. Would be interesting....

CrazyPhuD

Yes...but this is mostly due to the fact they use wheel hub motors.....no transmission, no drive train losses, the electric motors are actually in the wheels which can achieve energy efficiency in the high 90s or so it's been reported.

marcucci

I'm waiting for someone to rewire an Insight or Hybrid Civic IMA for more power, and mate it to a "real" gas motor.

Gernby

I read something in Car and Driver a few months ago about what Lexus is planning for some "Sport Hybrids". They are supposed to have something like 300 HP gas engines and 200 HP total from electric motors that can provide high output simultaneously to all 4 wheels when more get up and go is desired.

CrazyPhuD

http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/ly/eclipse.htm

Too bad batteries aren't up too snuff looks really interesting!
The hybrid eclipse concept.

CrazyPhuD

Ask and yea shall recieve....Accord V6 hybrid....looks interesting....

http://www.autosite.com/Previews/2005-hond...cord-hybrid.asp

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2004-0...rd-hybrid_x.htm

Elistan

For race applications, what about large capacitors instead of a battery bank? More efficient and quicker response. They're only task is to store up energy from regenerative braking, then spit it back to an electric motor as you come out of the curve. It doesn't matter then they get fully drained during the straights.

How much energy can capacitors hold these days? What do they weigh?

Gernby

For racing applications, I would think hybrids would be way too heavy whether you are using capacitors or batteries. Gutted race cars with race prepped engines probably produce much higher hp / lbs than a hybrid system.

Elistan

Gas mileage during an endurance race would be a huge benefit - if they only needed to pit every 1.5 hours rather than every hour, that's eight fewer pits during a 24hr race, which could be the edge in winning...

CrazyPhuD

SO I doubt regenerative braking will be feasible for racing applications. This is because the amount of resistance they provide is not too high. They are only good for slow smooth deceleration.

Now if you want power on demand perhaps we should go back to the original idea of the electric supercharger. It has a couple of really interesting possibilities. First the notion of a turbo lag is gone, you can have full boost whenever you want it, just turn it on and it's boosting. Honestly because of this I'm really surprised they choose a roots blower. It's usually inefficient and they could have chosen a centrifugal blower to achieve the same effect(with less temp increase) and a smaller package.

In addition to instant boost, you could also have variable boost(with proper tuning of course). If you wanted more power down low you could raise boost at low RPMS and have it lower at high RPMS. Hell if you were on the track and couldn't quite pass that 911 turbo, you could raise boost on demand for a passing in the strict and lower it once you've go into the turns. All of this would require proper tuning of course.

Now the question is how would you power the system? Well you could use a massive battery pack but you'd still have to charge it. How would you do that? Well clearly the alternator isn't going to be up to snuff and regenerative braking won't work either.

A turbo recovers energy from exhaust gases to power it's blower, you could use a similar technique. Instead of directly running a blower off a turbo, what if you ran an electric generator off of it? It should be able to provide sufficient power for the electric SC once it spools(like a turbo). All we need now is a power supply to feed the electric SC before it spools. Batteries could work but capacitors would be lighter and you don't need it to store a large amount of power just enough so that the generator can spool up.

Mostly just a potentially interesting couple of ideas I've had for a while about the potential for Electric FI. Who knows if it'll work haven't got a chance to build it yet