Electric Assist?

[SiliconSoul]

Hey all,

Curious to know if anyone else has been thinking about something like this. Since the weakness of the Festiva is traction, it would be interesting to see what would happen if you added a 5th wheel that could help you accelerate off the line. It would even give you the added benefit of having a bigger motor at the front and still get good gas mileage. I say 5th wheel since it would likely be the easiest way to add the motor, but it would be even cooler to build it up as a solid rear with an electric motors on either side. Obviously the cost and added weight would be a huge factor, but keeping in mind the torque available off the line it sure is an interesting idea.

I have been doing a lot of reading, but I am still scratching the surface of the electric motor world. Anyone know of what the best bang for buck in electric motors are at the moment? There are lots of electric forklift motors being mentioned, but I wondered if I was missing something better. With all the electric / hybrid vehicles out there I notice there are some good deals on battery packs now. Is this that crazy, or is it getting in the realm of possibility? Thanks for listening.

[Spike]

Why not strip the interior, take out the engine, and add training wheels and pedals?

1,000,000 MPG.

But all kidding aside, you literally mean a 5th tire on the ground? Possibly make a rear-wheel-drive motor and stick it in the back, add a third wheel to the rear.. have 3-wheel-drive.

Oh yes.

[bhearts]

I'm waiting for someone to do an aerocivic project. We are all leaving so much on the tables by only doing power increasing projects. Aero is where it's at. Ugly hideous aero.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk

[1chrisapple]

make it quick connect in a trailer hitch hahahaha.

[SiliconSoul]

Yes, I do really mean a 5th pusher wheel probably sticking out a bit behind. I was playing around with having a lever actuated drop down system that would allow it to retract up when not being used. (Or you wanted to hide how ugly it looked!) Perhaps an easier cleaner solution would be to take the rear wheel drive setup from a 323GTX and turn it using the electric motor. In the front you could run your 180+ hp BP, but the whole idea would be getting a huge amount of torque to get you out of the hole. Electric is no joke, and as batteries get better and cheaper it will start to show up more and more.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=691_1383163284

[SiliconSoul]

I would be lying if I said I wasn't contemplating that...

(Regarding the quick connect trailer hitch hookup...)

[sketchman]

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=691_1383163284

Ohhh, that launch.

[SiliconSoul]

Well looky what I found...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rear-Axle-with-GE-DC-Motor-5BC49JB2055-for-Electric-Car/181000572870?_trksid=p2047675.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222002%26algo%3DSIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D18060%26meid%3D2360558092082412566%26pid%3D100011%26prg%3D8304%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D5%26sd%3D220707576011%26

(edit: this things just a baby. 2hp ! )

[sketchman]

Do some research on electric motors before you decide that the HP rating means it's too small. On electric it's different. IIRC they measure it at no load or nearly no load or something like that. Point is, the HP rating is not the best thing to go by. Electric motors respond to how much load is on them. They will actually build more torque if given more load by drawing more and more juice till they burn up if given the opportunity.

I read a lot about the stuff a while ago, but I don't remember all the specifics. Point is to look beyond the HP rating.

[SiliconSoul]

Just found a good article on Hackaday talking about a Ford used battery pack. Cool read.

http://hackaday.com/2013/11/15/charles-tears-into-a-ford-fusion-battery/

[getnpsi]

Yes ive brought up the idea of using an electric motor to spin a rear end off something else, pretty much a seperate system of the gas engine. It's doable but giving a prius a rear turbo on race gas is probably easier