[ausev] Series hybrids

[John Penry at Texrocks]

Thanks for the information.  I have a 36 mile trip each way to work, and no 
way to plug in while at work.
I was thinking that creating a series hybrid similar to the GM Volt, would 
be easier to do using a pickup, and I had thought that the engine 
compartment could be used to place a motor from a motorcycle, snowmobile, or 
small diesel.  After going by and taking a look at the Ford Rangers on 
display this weekend, I'm beginning to wonder where all that electronic 
stuff is going to go.

I have read the work on the AC Propulsion Long Ranger, and thought that it 
could go under the hood, and the batteries - only needing a 40 mile range 
there would be a savings in weight and space required for the batteries, and 
that could be used for the generator.  Maybe I'll have to wait for some of 
the electronics to get miniaturized.

Thanks!

John in Seguin

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Christopher Robison" <chris at ohmbre.org>
To: "AustinEV News Announcements and General Discussion" 
<ausev at austinev.org>
Sent: Monday, December 03, 2007 4:29 PM
Subject: Re: [ausev] Series hybrids


> On Mon, 2007-12-03 at 15:31 -0600, Roy Holder wrote:
>> To keep the emissions low I was looking at DC marine diesel generators.
>> They typically have a longer run life and reliability, and in the case of
>> the Ossa, are lighter.
>> The Ossa have capacities of 6, 13.5, 25, 50, 100, 150 and 200kW.
>> 13.5 and 25kw  were the 2 sizes I was interested in.
>> I called and talked to an engineer and talked about the 25kw system. 
>> It's
>> less than 600 lbs and it consumed 1.3 gallons per hour at full load. 
>> They
>> could tweak the output voltage to match need with very little loss of
>> efficiency.  It would run well on biodiesel and they had supposedly 
>> tested
>> with biodiesel a lot, and is was VERY low emissions.
>> The down side is they cost more. I think they said a generator was about
>> $10,000
>>
>> http://www.ossapowerlite.com/index.htm
>> http://polarpowerinc.com/products/generators/index.htm
>
> It's been a long time since I'd looked at the Ossa stuff. I'd forgotten
> about them.
>
> Actually, from a certain perspective, this isn't so bad. Compared with
> the cost of another car for doing long distance trips, $10k and change
> for one of these on a trailer seems reasonable.  It's still probably a
> lot more accessible for most folks to rent a car for longer trips, but
> if you have a reason to need to drive a specific EV (such as bringing a
> certain eventually-to-be-completed race truck to the NEDRA Nationals in
> Portland...) this would be a lot nicer than a trailer and tow vehicle,
> as long as they've done their homework on emissions. The biodiesel or
> SVO/WVO capability of diesel engines definitely sweetens the deal.
>
> There is still a catch to the genset-on-a-trailer idea. Namely the motor
> size and duty rating problem, mentioned in a previous post.
>
> Another potential catch to think about is how to get the power to the
> car without damaging the batteries, which doesn't seem to be a problem
> with the Ossa products but is still worth knowing about for those who
> might consider this with different products. It's important to limit
> voltage to prevent damaging your batteries (which still need to be
> in-circuit for acceleration) during periods of net recharge such as
> going down long hills or driving more slowly.
>
> One way is to use a battery charger between an AC generator and the car,
> plugging the car into the generator instead of the wall. The highest
> rated battery charger currently available off the shelf (to my
> knowledge) is the Manzanita PFC-50, which has a feature to allow it to
> support this purpose but only delivers 12kW. You couldn't use 2 in
> parallel to get more power, since they do not have isolated outputs (I
> think they've played with that idea in the past). For more than 12kW
> you'd need DC from the generator, and some way to voltage-limit the
> output the way a charger would.
>
> Both of these vendors' products do generate DC (Polar's don't appear to
> generate enough), but they don't seem to mention details about voltage
> regulation unless I've missed it. I'm sure Ossa's support it though
> since they mention hybrid configurations, but I wonder if it's set at a
> particular voltage, or if it's user selectable to allow flexibility in
> future pack voltage decisions.
>
>
> -- 
> Christopher Robison
> chris at ohmbre.org
> http://ohmbre.org          <-- 1999 Isuzu Hombre + Z2K + Warp13!
>
> _______________________________________________
> AusEV mailing list
> AusEV at austinev.org
> http://www.austinev.org/mailman/listinfo/ausev
>
>