Hybid (not)

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norseman

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Whilst wishing everyone a Happy & healthy New Year the devil in me prompted the posting of (probably) the last daft question of 2022.

If a an older hybrid car reached the point where the battery power system can no longer function, either because the batteries have finally died or National grid power is no longer available to facilitate a charge, would it be possible to considerably lighten the car by removing the motive power batteries/motor etc. & continue using the engine?

Just a thought :unsure:
 
norseman said:
Whilst wishing everyone a Happy & healthy New Year the devil in me prompted the posting of (probably) the last daft question of 2022.

If a an older hybrid car reached the point where the battery power system can no longer function, either because the batteries have finally died or National grid power is no longer available to facilitate a charge, would it be possible to considerably lighten the car by removing the motive power batteries/motor etc. & continue using the engine?

Just a thought :unsure:
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No.
 
Thank you for that but perhaps I should have given more thought to the correct terminology, though the answer may well be the same.
I meant to say PHEV rather than Hybrid.
 
No, the electric and petrol drives are integrated together, you can't just remove one and continue using the other one.
No doubt if someone had enough time and money it could be done, but it would be totally rebuilding the car, not just a case of removing components.

If people want a new car, the choices are petrol or electric.
Hybrids are the worst of both options with the advantages of neither.
 
flameport said:
Hybrids are the worst of both options with the advantages of neither.
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Sorry, Flameport, can't agree. I have been running a Kia Niro Self-Charging Hybrid (1.56kWh battery) for three years and, apart from during the coldest weather, returns almost 50 to the gallon round town. My previous car, a 1.6 Petrol Cee'd struggled to return 40 mpg under similar use!
 
But will it still be working to maximum efficiency in ten years? Will you still have the car or will you have traded it in, will you care then? What happens to that poor owner who ends up with it in a decade when it fails and is left with a massive heap of uneconomical to repair scrap on his driveway?
 
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This may sound daft, even with my electrical background, but isn't it feasible to mount some kind of mini wind turbine, (driven by air forced through the radiator grill as you drive), that could help re-charge your battery as you drive?
I've had a couple of whisky's so if this is nonsense, I'll blame the drink. :giggle:
 
conny said:
This may sound daft, even with my electrical background, but isn't it feasible to mount some kind of mini wind turbine, (driven by air forced through the radiator grill as you drive), that could help re-charge your battery as you drive?
I've had a couple of whisky's so if this is nonsense, I'll blame the drink. :giggle:
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Yep - blame the drink! The wind turbine is driven by resisting wind force, so it slows the car down.
Two ways I sometimes think about these kind of questions:

-What happens if I scale it up?
Massive turbine on the roof = almost impossible to move it forward

-Is it a perpetual motion machine?
If so it's impossible to work

It's a bit like putting a big fan on the back of a sailboat to fill the sails - the sails drive it forward but the fan drives it backwards.
(Admittedly different if you have a boat that splits in half, with an anchor at each end, but that's another story, and less efficient than just using the fan like a hovercraft does ...)
 
Astra99 said:
Sorry, Flameport, can't agree. I have been running a Kia Niro Self-Charging Hybrid (1.56kWh battery) for three years and, apart from during the coldest weather, returns almost 50 to the gallon round town. My previous car, a 1.6 Petrol Cee'd struggled to return 40 mpg under similar use!
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It may not affect you, but when it has a problem, will there be someone ( near you ? ) capable of repairing it ? From some reports, hybrids with their ICE/electric interface are so complex with software integration that dealers are often stymied.
 
Astra99 said:
Sorry, Flameport, can't agree. I have been running a Kia Niro Self-Charging Hybrid (1.56kWh battery) for three years and, apart from during the coldest weather, returns almost 50 to the gallon round town. My previous car, a 1.6 Petrol Cee'd struggled to return 40 mpg under similar use!
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A 15 year old diesel can return 70+mpg, what's your point?
 
Mottie said:
With a hybrid you could drive from one end of the country to the other without having to spend 10 hours or more at a charging station.
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So could a petrol or diesel car without having to lug around the extra weight of the electric motor and battery.
On such a long journey, the electric part of a hybrid car would be used for approximately none of it.

In a suitable electric car, that 600 mile journey could be done with a single 30 minute stop for charging.
It's desperately unlikely anyone actually would, as with realistic driving that journey is 12+ hours, and most people do not want to drive continuously for 6 hours at a time even if they are capable of doing so.
 
conny said:
This may sound daft, even with my electrical background, but isn't it feasible to mount some kind of mini wind turbine, (driven by air forced through the radiator grill as you drive), that could help re-charge your battery as you drive?
I've had a couple of whisky's so if this is nonsense, I'll blame the drink. :giggle:
Click to expand...
As StephenStephen says, it won't work, because the energy to turn the blades of your turbine, has come from the car's battery pushing it through the air in the first place. It would be a "something-for-nothing machine". The same could be said of putting (say) a bike dynamo against the tyre to generate electricity. The energy to turn it, has come from your car in the first place.
 
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