Future of electric driving Options

[Nine_14]

I'm curious about the result.

[r3dplanet]

My friends and I have been messing with Diesel-electric for a long time. One electrical engineer, one marine engineer from large container vessels, and the IT guy (me).

Quite some time back we tried all this with an old Rabbit Diesel. We had two problems: the Diesel and electric motor weigh quite a lot. Now add a ton of batteries. Power to weight is all wrong even with a tiny little Rabbit. The other issue is the power curve. A gas motor can have power at a large range of RPMs, but the Diesel has a much lower range. Our inital plan was just to set the Diesel at a fixed rpm like an industrial motor which would be set at it's most efficient speed. But this isn't enough to charge the batteries effectively. If you crank up the speed of the motor, you might as well run on Diesel power all the time and forget using electrical. Plus, you have the psychological effect of hearing the motor idle at all speeds.

We still think it's possible. But lightweight, crazy efficient motors are hard to come by and batteries are still expensive (although only 1/3 of what we shelled out a few years ago). Always hampered with work schedules, lousy weather, etc. We eventually found a pal who had lots of money to play with so we made up a nice VW Fastback as a full electric. Then he installed a complete solar array on this roof to charge it. Free fuel forever. It's a nice setup, but even with the tax incentives it cost a load of bread to capitalize. But it will pay for itself in in five years, and that was three years ago.

The eighty mile range is great for him because he commutes locally only, but I want a longer range for myself.

So we continue to sit around the table on cold winter nights and ponder more about a Diesel-electric vehicle.

The whole project convinced me to enter an electrical engineering program that specializes in solar and wind generation. Night school is slow going, but I hope one day it will really help projects like this one.