Building a diesel electric car...maby
 

Hokay :D I've had this one on my mind for a while, something to be different ( as if I need more :lol: ) and be able to drive arround a bit more than I can right now, besides, I might need to move an hour away too BFE in a year or so, so, I'm back to thisidea, and I wasn't thinking of using an SVX, I have a 2 door mini Cherokee, a 2 door full size Cherokee, a VW GTI, get a Legacy Outback (or use my old legacy if I can afford the fees :lol:), perhaps a Vanagon, or (my favorite other than an SVX) an e36 BMW...maby an e28 or an e30, finally, perhaps a full size short bed pickup or Bronco, choice depends largely on final use.

Here is the trouble, full electric dosn't have a good (actually quite bad for my use) cost/benifit ratio, and I can easily top $600/month fuel, so if I move this could really help out, besides being cool, and blowing that silly 35mpg regulation out of the water!

I have found websites devoted to building an electric car, but I'm still trying to figure out how the diesel driven generator would fit into this whole equation, and then I'll need to properly size it to assist the batteries, help charge them, and likley run whenever I drive up hill.

The good news is that I can use the engine at peak effiency at all times, now I gotta make it work :lol:

Did you see the Datsun 210 4 door electric DRAG car on the Speed channel a month ago? If a small diesel could be rigged to run a generator and use that tech, you could get outstanding mileage AND go fast! They were getting 11 second quarter miles out of it.

It had rubber blown up over both quarter pannels.
They used a 4 speed manual with a lithium battery and a fork-lift type motor and relays.
They were plugging it in between runs. (that's where the diesel comes in.)

Tear out that gas gti motor and insert 1.6TD, easy swap. All you need is a different filler neck. 50mpg FTW!!!

:) I could, or a TDI, either way those are difficult engines to find, but not as difficult as a few years ago! :lol: The TDI would make a road warrior out of it, but nothing says I can't hava a TDI GTI and a Diesel Electric elsewhere :D

Heres my plan for a electric car. Since we all love Subaru's:p, get a FWD model but get the parts in the back for AWD. Hook up electric drive/generator to rear diff,some batteries,wiring,etc. Drive on gas, charge batteries(or charge some other way) switch gas to electric after you get up to speed. Of course this is my basic concept but I did see where somebody pulled the Subaru motor, installed a electric motor in its place and kept the AWD:eek:

I have no TV service :) but I have seen pictures, pretty sweet! The main issue I have is tying a generator into the system, but maby I just need to start by building an electric car and tie the generator in later, being in California the easiest thing to do is build an electric car and get it registered as electric, then add the generator later, remember, we are only liberal if you do it exactly our way! :rolleyes::lol:

It had crossed my mind :D

What kind of specs are you looking for in your electric/generating car?

How many miles per trip?
0-60 performance?
Cruising speed?

Etc..

I'm often thinking of doing something similar for a commuting vehicle. Here's my list of specs, based on my trip to work (about 15 miles each way, half freeway, half city streets):

Miles per charge (assuming no onboard generating) 70-100
0-60 performance 8-9 seconds or better
Cruising speed - Needs to be able to do freeway speeds 70-80mph

My thoughts for a donor car would be an old XT or XT6, for these reasons:
1. Good aerodynamics for times of high speed driving
2. Relatively light weight (at least compared to more modern cars)
3. Available in AWD and FWD for different design possibilities
4. Cheap and somewhat plentiful, at least in the non-rusty areas of the US
5. Style suitable to such an interesting idea
6. Fairly good crash safety

Possible ideas:
1. Buy FWD XT 4-cylinder, leave the engine/trans in the front and put electric stuff in the back and have a super hybrid
2. Buy an AWD version, and use electric motor in RWD thru the transmission/driveshaft
3. Buy a FWD version XT6, and use the FWD transmission w/ electric motor. There should be enough room for a small generator (the XT6 has more room in the engine bay)

An Impreza wagon would work too, or a Loyale for most of the same reasons as above...

Steve-

Excellent questions, first off, a pure electric car won't work because we have some significant hills arround here.

I don't really NEED performance, but not gutless either, 10-12 seconds would be fine, and AWD also, range is what I'm after, the little Loyal wagon would do fine, perhaps have a 6-10 HP generator that always runs on longer trips? Or a larger engine that is used as needed, more likley :)

A top speed of 80-90mph would be nice, but more important is the ability to go up hills for longer periods, so most likley a slightly larger electric motor.

Range, 150 miles minimum, but with a diesel generator and a stock sized fuel tank 1000 miles isn't out of the question, my 40 horse kubota uses arround 1.25-1.5 GPH at full throttle, and .5gph at ~1800 rpm light loads, so I figure I should be under .5gph

I would like a bit of cargo space, but a small wagon is enough.

I really need to find the power consumption of various electric motors used in the electric automotive world to judge generator size, a little big is better than a little small, but way big is pointless.

Here's a good site, a converted impreza:

http://www.proev.com/index.htm

Should be a fairly good guide for motor sizing.

Here's a couple others I've looked at when I get in the mood to look at this kind of thing...

http://www.metricmind.com/ac_honda/main2.htm

http://jerryrig.com/convert/

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Electri...cle_conversion

and.
http://www.nedra.com/





I think if you are in a hilly area, you would want to have a regenerating braking system to take advantage of the downhill sections...