Driverless Cars

[prof fate]

Loco's need torque to move and elec motors have all their torque available at every rpm.

Back in the late 70s toyota made a gas-generator car that got 100mpg..I never quite understood why it didn't spread farther. the chevy volt is basically this. Best of both worlds I'd think.

If you only need 15hp to cruise along the hiway then run off battery or small genset. On hills and accell draw power from the battery bank. You may need 100hp elec motor, no transmission (offset battery weight and cost), a small genset should be able to keep you charged up.

My brain has yet to understand electricity/batteries/charge/discharge - 750w to a hp is about as far as I can comprehend. If I could understand it maybe I could make an elec car as above or as least understand if it's possible or not.

I know my 1700w/120v genset uses a gallon of gas for 10 hours of use.
My car, at say 35mph 30mpg will use 12 gallons in 10 hours.
What I can't figure, for lack of comprehension, is what elec motor/battery I need to replace the eng/trans with elec power. Even if the genset has to triple in size I think I'm ahead

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Loco's need torque to move and elec motors have all their torque available at every rpm.

Back in the late 70s toyota made a gas-generator car that got 100mpg..I never quite understood why it didn't spread farther. the chevy volt is basically this. Best of both worlds I'd think.

If you only need 15hp to cruise along the hiway then run off battery or small genset. On hills and accell draw power from the battery bank. You may need 100hp elec motor, no transmission (offset battery weight and cost), a small genset should be able to keep you charged up.

My brain has yet to understand electricity/batteries/charge/discharge - 750w to a hp is about as far as I can comprehend. If I could understand it maybe I could make an elec car as above or as least understand if it's possible or not.

I know my 1700w/120v genset uses a gallon of gas for 10 hours of use.
My car, at say 35mph 30mpg will use 12 gallons in 10 hours.
What I can't figure, for lack of comprehension, is what elec motor/battery I need to replace the eng/trans with elec power. Even if the genset has to triple in size I think I'm ahead

I think many of us grew up in an era where the car was not just a way of travel but more or less an extension of our egos/manhood. Car makers did not want to leave the IC engine that has been a good cash cow for them when gas was $0.25 per gallon. When I see a car with the windows shaking at a stop light I think of the $10 horse and $20 saddle expression from yesteryear.

Our kids learned to drive in an EV. To be more safe on our hills I found a used EZGO (2006?)with PDS drive system (regen breaking) so that was my start on understanding EV's. The batteries were like 5 years old but we could still travel 25 miles when fully charged which I thought was amazing. We had a 10 mile path of county roads that went past about 10 houses in the middle of no where so it was relative save with a little local traffic. They learned the rules off the road and hand signalling. Being twins and having to swap out drivers when one violated a driving rule or law seemed to keep their focus. A few years later both pasted their driving test in a old 2000 Towncar. Yes I never made life easy for them.

I really want the four motor 600 HP Ford F-150 like they had at a car show back in 2014. We have the most heavy duty F-150 made in 2010 today and I love it and it started out as a $7400 project truck. My 'ego' means I now have more than $7400 in the the truck too. Full LED exterior lighting upgrades has caused my old brain to learn about cars more than in many years.

 

[prof fate]

Thinking of starting with an electric bicycle conversion - amazon sells kits, add battery.
been playing with elec r/c cars, planes and such. lithium ion is awesome stuff.

then move to say, a miata elec conversion. Lots to learn before I can that.

tempted to make an elec lawn mower - no speed control needed...simple math and googling seems it's possible and not that expensive using old lead acid batteries. Need what, 2-3 hours run time? Piece of cake.

The bike is easier, more proven, more useful - I can use it as real transportation.

I think many of us grew up in an era where the car was not just a way of travel but more or less an extension of our egos/manhood. Car makers did not want to leave the IC engine that has been a good cash cow for them when gas was $0.25 per gallon. When I see a car with the windows shaking at a stop light I think of the $10 horse and $20 saddle expression from yesteryear.

Our kids learned to drive in an EV. To be more safe on our hills I found a used EZGO (2006?)with PDS drive system (regen breaking) so that was my start on understanding EV's. The batteries were like 5 years old but we could still travel 25 miles when fully charged which I thought was amazing. We had a 10 mile path of county roads that went past about 10 houses in the middle of no where so it was relative save with a little local traffic. They learned the rules off the road and hand signalling. Being twins and having to swap out drivers when one violated a driving rule or law seemed to keep their focus. A few years later both pasted their driving test in a old 2000 Towncar. Yes I never made life easy for them.

I really want the four motor 600 HP Ford F-150 like they had at a car show back in 2014. We have the most heavy duty F-150 made in 2010 today and I love it and it started out as a $7400 project truck. My 'ego' means I now have more than $7400 in the the truck too. Full LED exterior lighting upgrades has caused my old brain to learn about cars more than in many years.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Thinking of starting with an electric bicycle conversion - amazon sells kits, add battery.
been playing with elec r/c cars, planes and such. lithium ion is awesome stuff.

then move to say, a miata elec conversion. Lots to learn before I can that.

tempted to make an elec lawn mower - no speed control needed...simple math and googling seems it's possible and not that expensive using old lead acid batteries. Need what, 2-3 hours run time? Piece of cake.

The bike is easier, more proven, more useful - I can use it as real transportation.

Keep us updated on your EV projects.

 

[3930dave]

Loco's need torque to move and elec motors have all their torque available at every rpm.

Back in the late 70s toyota made a gas-generator car that got 100mpg..I never quite understood why it didn't spread farther. the chevy volt is basically this. Best of both worlds I'd think.

If you only need 15hp to cruise along the hiway then run off battery or small genset. On hills and accell draw power from the battery bank. You may need 100hp elec motor, no transmission (offset battery weight and cost), a small genset should be able to keep you charged up.

My brain has yet to understand electricity/batteries/charge/discharge - 750w to a hp is about as far as I can comprehend. If I could understand it maybe I could make an elec car as above or as least understand if it's possible or not.

I know my 1700w/120v genset uses a gallon of gas for 10 hours of use.
My car, at say 35mph 30mpg will use 12 gallons in 10 hours.
What I can't figure, for lack of comprehension, is what elec motor/battery I need to replace the eng/trans with elec power. Even if the genset has to triple in size I think I'm ahead

Somebody back when put together a small kubota diesel/electric hybrid truck. No, it wouldn't tow 20k#, but as a small runabout it did fine, and got way better fuel mileage than most street motorcycles do.

You'll often see military prototypes today, that are diesel/electric hybrids.... nice combo. In a better universe, we'd have Jetta hybrid diesels today.

Short of hydrogen, the next best IC option is natgas. Buddy of mine had a factory dual fuel F150 natgas - best truck he's ever had, for fueling cost.

Lots of good technical options out there...... too bad we are not allowed to have most of them.....

Rgds, D.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

Back in the late 70s toyota made a gas-generator car that got 100mpg..I never quite understood why it didn't spread farther. the chevy volt is basically this. Best of both worlds I'd think.

The street version is known as the "Prius."

 

[3930dave]

My kind of 100 mpg.....

Build Your Own Car That Gets 1 Miles Per Gallon | MOTHER EARTH NEWS

Rgds, D.

 

[prof fate]

The street version is known as the "Prius."

the prius, like the chevy volt, can and do drive the wheels with the gas engine as well as elec motor.

So not truly a genset/battery/motor arrangement.

 

[prof fate]

My kind of 100 mpg.....

Build Your Own Car That Gets 1 Miles Per Gallon | MOTHER EARTH NEWS

Rgds, D.

I remember this from way back...Similar to the mother earth news car.
Urba Centurion: Building Your Own 128-MPG 197s Diesel Sports Car

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I remember this from way back...Similar to the mother earth news car.
Urba Centurion: Building Your Own 128-MPG 197s Diesel Sports Car

So it could drive a 8KW generator just fine. Interesting set up but not simple I am sure as was stated.