40 hp motor is huge for that
application.   That would be a
peak (5 minute rating), which is still about 100 pound
motor,
needing 400 Amps @ 72V....  even with high efficiency
batteries,
about 80 pounds (minimum).  Catch with AGM batteries
is they hate
going to full depletion mode, as the 1000 cycles will drop
into
the 10's of cycles... meaning 160 pounds of batteries. I
wonder
what battery it is using? LI-Ion most likely.

So figure out what an extra 180 to 240 pounds of dead
weight does to your performance!

I used to follow the Electric Vehicle programs very closely
with
the old job, but haven't been active with it in 8 years.
Lots of
progress with batteries, but like my Sister who bought a
hybrid...
but commutes on the freeway I told her to buy a smaller 4
cyl
vehicle to save gas (you have to drag around an extra 300
pounds).
My '82 Datsun 210 still gets 47mpg.

Old vehicle (long since history):
http://www.evalbum.com/121f.html

Tom

I discovered a real interesting characteristic of hybrid
cars
on the freeway. They don't recover the energy required to
climb
a hill on the freeway. I always assumed it would recover
the energy
required to climb the hill when it coasted down the other
side  but I
was wrong. As an experiment put your car in neutral and
coast down the
next freeway hill you come upon.

What happens? The car does not exceed the speed limit
because
the rolling resistance and aero drag prevents the car from
exceeding the speed
limit therefore there is no energy recovery. Actually it is
a net loss as
the hybrid car weighs several hundred pounds more and it
takes more energy
to climb the hill in the first place.

Paul Lamar


Paul,

With the EV! (GM) we actually did recover energy. Correct, it is never 100%,
but with the EV1 low rolling resistance we would do a test drive around
Torrance, CA.   As you crested the top it was down to 20% range left.
Once down hill, and lots of coasting we would return it at 70%
range.

On the Dodge Dakota it was big, heavy, and had a huge air drag. Still
with the three phase motor and controls it did regenerated some battery
capacity with the rolling hills around Austin, TX.

Biggest issue I had with the EV was the lack of noise and almost
nailing pedestrians.  Add mp3 wearin joggers around Austin, TX you
had to be hyper alert as they would jump into the road way near
the jogging trails.  Plan was to rig up a sound system that could
switch between a Ferrari and Harley... just to get them to look twice.

Tom


I lived near there for 30 years the nearest freeway is miles away.
There are some hills on the city streets but the speed limit is only
about 30 MPH max. The nearest 405 freeway hill is the  Sepulveda pass
20 miles away. There are some steep hills in the adjacent  Palos Verdes
that have perhaps a 50 MPH speed limit. I am talking 80 MPH freeway
hills.

Is that the GM electric car of ten years ago? I helped Don Sherman
test that for Pop Science. The town we used was dead flat Oxnard.

In fact we drove it up to Santa Barbara and back along the
coast to make sure the road was flat and the best range we could get
not using the AC, turn signals, power windows or headlights was
60 miles. GM claimed 100 miles.

Not long after that it became a museum piece in the Nethercutt :)
http://www.nethercuttcollection.org/

Paul Lamar