Home-brew hybrid car..
 

Here's my idea for a hybrid car.. My '88 Dodge Omni.. It's front wheel drive and it's got a solid rear axle in the back. Swap that rear axle out for a basic rear differential, with some kind of large electric motor hooked to it where the driveshaft would normally go in. Fill the trunk with as many NiMH or even Li-Ion batteries as I can afford. Oh, and I'm thinking of some kind of electric clutch on the electric motor to differential connection, like an AC compressor has, only far larger/stronger. This would allow the rear end to freewheel most of the time. There would be two times the clutch would engage. Wide open throttle accelleration, and for decelerating. I think I'd want an extra brake pedal to control the recharge/braking, since it'd ALL be in the back, I wouldn't want it to engage when I tap the brakes in a corner on an icey road. Now for accellerating with the electric motor, they work GREAT from a dead stop, they have TONS of torque available immediately, unlike the gas engine up front that needs some revs first. So what I'm thinking is a simple limitter switch on the throttle. When you floor it, the electric motor engages. The car would get up and boogie, screw a speed controller and whatnot.. Have that rear motor engage full tilt, and don't turn it off till you let your foot up, or you pass the motor's max speed (simple circuit to monitor the car's speed sensor could shutdown the motor and release the electric clutch.)..
It's a bit of a pipe dream for me for the time being, I don't have the funding to try this experiment.. I'd probably use basic lead acid batteries for my proof of concept before splurging on the good batteries. I'd love to see how much it helps 0 to 60 times and 1/4 mile times too..
I don't know if anyone has read about the Tesla roadster, but that thing uses a 3 phase electric motor.. That's an awesome idea, I wonder how hard it is to make a 3 phase inverter to convert DC into 3 phase 480v AC..
I'm up for some feedback.. I REALLY want to see someone do this.. :) Been mulling over this idea for awhile now.

Re: Home-brew hybrid car..
 

Oh, and if you can't tell, I care nothing about using the hybrid setup to improve gas mileage. I've done that with electronics in the past, was getting a good solid 44 MPG freeway with my '83 Shelby Charger.. Multipoint fuel injection on a 2.2L N/A engine with the Megasquirt fuel injection computer.. Could have done better too, had I had a wideband O2 sensor to really lean it out on the freeway.. :) I can just imagine what I could do with something like a Geo Metro.. The car companies really don't tune for maximum gas mileage, they tune for lowest emissions/keeping the catalytic converter warm..

Re: Home-brew hybrid car..
 

It's all about torque...

You ought to read up on the new motors they're using in washers now: multi-pole, permanent magnet. Flat like a pie plate, and designed to run at either low-speed high-torque (for washing), or high-speed, low-torque (for spin-dry). Runs at ~95% efficiency.

Re: Home-brew hybrid car..
 

Yeah.. I started looking up 3phase motors on Ebay.. They get BIG and HEAVY real fast.. And not quite cheap like I was thinking.. And to build a decent 3phase inverter/speed controller.. Well, I'll need to go back to school and become a mathematician it looks like. heh, file this plan under "pipe dreams"..

Re: Home-brew hybrid car..
 

reminds me:
http://www.timnolan.com/etruck/etruck.htm