Something different Building for MPG.

speedyb-cc said
Yea the diesel's are great but the way to go is elec on all four wheels like the German company is doing with the Mini Cooper. Little 2 cly gas engine for spare power and extended range, the elec motors switch to generators when you let off the pedal and recharge the bat, also work as brakes. Pretty slick set up. I've seen some elec motors putting out 250hp, that x4= yee haa!!
Bruce

Just thought I'd interject something here since I worked for Hyster forklifts for 11 yrs. and about 50% of the lifts I worked on were electric powered so I had allot of factory training on the subject. The power is great as Speedy said but I don't think 4 250 hp motors would fit into a car. One possibly driving a conventional rear axle. A 250 hp motor is HUGE. The only thing I can say negative about them is the part about them recharging the battery when you let off the gas. It's a bunch of hogwash. It does but it is such a minute amount it don't even affect things. We calculated the charge put back into a battery after a normal 8 hr. shift (the average run time of a forklift battery before it needs recharged). It came out to be replacing approx. .1% of the charge used in the 8 hr shift. It does work good as a brake though. That's it's main benefit. This technology is called regenerative braking. If it weren't for the size and mass (and price) of the batteries I'd build a electric car.