**** check out this car... it has 4 electric motors and has 640hp.

http://www.motorauthority.com/cars/m...i-with-640bhp/

Wud love a Hybrid Mini.

I think this is going to be the natural progression of hybrids for this reason:

Engines tend to perform best right in the middle of their output -- not too low, not too high, without a lot of load changes. Smaller engines will generally be more efficient. Elecrtic motors tend to perform best at a small fraction of their peak output (reduced internal elecrtical resistance), so a much more powerful motor will generally be more efficient. Combine a high peak power motor with a small, efficient motor and you have supercar performance with hypermiler fuel economy. Unlike pure gasoline cars, having all that excess horsepower should actually help overall efficiency.

Parallel hybrid designs (both the engine and motors power the wheels) seem to be preferred right now as the engine power can be added to the elecrtic motor power, and under steady state cruising it's not necessary to transmit any power via electrics. The series hybrid designs will likely take up more space (motors big enough to power the car AND a generator AND and engine) as well, but the main reason we don't see them is probably cost (much more robust batteries/motors/elecrtonics will be needed).

Mostly I agree but would offer one other characteristic of electric motors, back EMF at higher RPMs. The faster an electric motor turns, the higher the back EMF which limits how much power can be applied to the wheels. There are fixes.

The voltage range feeding the motor can be increased, the Toyota HSD does this with a voltage doubler. The problem is the voltage can reach ranges that make dialectric breakdown a serious risk.

The second alternative is to switch the windings to go from series to parallel. This is the electronic equivalent of switching the gears. The next generation, rear wheel drive, Toyota Synergy Drive takes this approach with actual gears. Trying to switch windings with a permanent magnet rotor is a trickier problem.

A third alternative is timing that shifts the phase and frequency. However, I'm not sure this method is as effective as the authors claim.

Bob Wilson

Operation Iraqi Oil Freedom:

Automatic, stock, project car.

My other 1500 cc car:

Automatic, stock, backup car.
Free speech, dialog and knowledge thrives without the poison of SPAM.

Bob. You never cease to amaze me!


Do you work for NASA or something?


Anyway...what a gadget...I want one. Now we're talking serious fuel efficiency!


But surely you would need to have some sort of mechanical braking in addition to the regen braking. I mean, regen won't exactly lock the wheels up...will it?

Just put the wheels in reverse, which would work at any speed.

With full control of each wheel, it would be possible to do wheel-power assisted turns. Essentially, the car would go into a four wheel skid, rotate left or right, 90 degrees. Then the wheels would spin in the forward or reverse direction and like a road runner cartoon, as soon as the car reached a point of regaining road friction, take off like a bat out of Hadies. With the right control software it would funny to watch, the first dozen times.

Heck, the car could rotate on its own axis standing still. Alternatively, the car could drive towards a too small parking space, rotate 90 degrees and slide into the spot. Again, it would be funny as heck but a little rough on the tires. Getting out would be even funnier.

You put the car in stationary skid mode and then a helper pushes it out from the curb. The wheels stop, the assistant gets in the car and wheels spinning, and off they go.

Bob Wilson

Operation Iraqi Oil Freedom:

Automatic, stock, project car.

My other 1500 cc car:

Automatic, stock, backup car.
Free speech, dialog and knowledge thrives without the poison of SPAM.

I would SO buy that car, so long as it wasn't $40K. Absolutely perfect - performance, great FE, fun to drive. I really hope they build it!

*** Retired after 65,000 outstanding miles ***

That is just too cool. Sell it for <$30k here in the US and I'll buy one!

I'm really bummed about the lack of useful information about the car.
I went to the actual site:
http://www.pmlflightlink.com/archive/news_mini.html

There's nothing about how much it might cost if they were to produce it on a limited or mass scale, or even how much it cost to make the prototype. I am curious because as I've posted elsewhere on this board, I am very much into the idea of the Tesla Roadster http://www.teslamotors.com.

Looks like a dream car, right up until the point I saw $100,000 to get one. It's not hard to make a cool car for that much. But, it's a great way to start getting the technology out there and on the road - means the cost will come down so regular folks could some day get one.

*** Retired after 65,000 outstanding miles ***

I'm guessing that the actual regen would be limited by what the batteries can accept, but that the motor would be capable of supplying much further braking by charging the batteries as quickly as they can handle it, then running the excess elecrticity through a resistor or heater coil cooled by the cooling system (this could help to warm up the engine faster as well, if needed)