While surfing around uPay I stumbled on this ad and thought I had never heard anyone here come up with one of these as an alternative propulsion system for an old Ford truck. This would make dumping a four cylinder or diesel into one of our truck mundane. There would be plenty of room for the batteries in the bed with a tonneau cover to hide them.



Item number: 230024593862

I know it probably wouldn’t be practical and I wouldn’t want to do it but I thought it might be good fodder for conversation.

 

I never thought about that, but it's a good idea. Problem is, you probably can't make that thing go "vroom"...and the smells, and all the cool-looking stuff under the hood...

 

Looks like a drive motor from a Ford Ranger electric vehicle.

Barry

50 F-1

 

Ditto

Plus a whole 90HP? Unless you're real careful(read spend huge $$$) the batteries are likely to weigh more than the engine. So now you've got a really heavy, really underpowered truck that can't haul cargo or tow. Why bother?

Now, as an upgrade to a golf cart... yeah! Tire spinning on the golf course is not recommended if you want to be invited back however.

 

You can cut the weight a bunch by getting away from Lead-Acid Batteries.
As for the Vroooom, modifiy the inside of a wheel with some bike spokes and use playing cards.

 

When I was 6, I did that to BOTH wheels. I was the man!

 

I don't need to be fast, just look good going slowly down the road. I drive a stock F-2 with a flat six and non-syncro 4 speed, I'm used to going slow.

 

It would accomplish low and slow well. Is there any way to get rid of the whine normally associated with electric cars? Low, slow, and silent would be interesting.

 

Our autocross club supplies the timing equipment and manpower for a local event called the EV-Challenge each year. The area highschool autoshop classes prepare a converted electric powered vehicle and compete in autocross and dragracing competitions. It's an eye opener to see.
Don't let that HP number fool you! Take a look at a chassis dyno chart for even a high performance gas powered vehicle and see how little HP and torque is being generated below 1500 RPMs, the area used to get the vehicle moving. Most gas engines don't start producing much power until >3000 RPMs or so. An electric motor however generates it's maximum HP and Torque at <1.0 RPMs, (at start) and then the power drops off as the motor speeds up unless you add more voltage. The max power is only limited by how much voltage you can supply, how cool you can keep the motor and at what RPM the centrifugal force blows it apart. So that 90 HP (and GOBS of torque as is also the nature of the electric motor) is available as soon as you step on the go pedal, and you'd BETTER be holding on!!!! The real problem with the vehicles I've seen is controlling that HP and torque at startup so's not to just burn the tires off it! The controllers are typically rigged to add more batteries into the circuit as the vehicle accellerates.
These cars are anything BUT slow! It is disconcerting at first to hear no sound except the squeeling of the tires at the start and in the turns.

 

90hp and 147ftlbs just don't thrill me almost regardless of the rpms. My truck makes more than that by the time the torque converter kicks in at 1200rpm. Then it procedes onto about 300HP and 400ftlbs.

Given the rpm range of electrics it is possible that two motors and careful gearing could match or beat my truck, though far from garunteed. After one trip down the strip problems, in the form of recharging, would be had. Whereas my gas engine will hold it's ETs until I run out of money to buy gas at any easily available pump. Now one motor at each tire... that could be a hell of a ride. But again, very, very heavy and complicated. Shipping weight is 200lbs each.

 

Just re-read. How did you get a flat six (Porsche) engine in a F2? I'm guessing you mean straight/inline six?

 

Flat HEAD 6 !
I never said it was practical or I wanted one, but no transmission or differential (if using 2 motors) is needed so there is no mechanical HP loss. Is your HP at the flywheel or at the wheels?
Plus the electric is drawing or requires NO power until it starts moving.

 

Interesting. I think Axracer has a point here, too. My son brought me an article from airline magazine recently about a guy up in the San Jose area that is going to market an electric sports car next year. Don't remember much about the company or car name, but I was struck by 0-60 in 4 seconds, top speed of 130 mph and 250 miles on a charge (that takes about 45 minutes). The writer said the acceleration was awsome! It runs on hundreds of laptop batteries.

 

Not SONY batteries I hope!

 

Nope! I forget the battery technology he was using, but it wasn't Sony.

The rollout cost will be about $80k. It really looked cool...very much like a 2-seat Ferrari roadster. An electric motor was at each wheel. Computers controlled everything. A 4-door sedan model will be rolled out in 2008. A little less performance, but similar range.

Other than the performance numbers, what I found interesting was that the inventor was relying on the computer industry to develop the battery technology. He figures to piggy-back on their developments, so the cars will improve every year. Lots of very impressive backers. It has been in development for about 3 years.