Build Your Own Hybrid-Electric Car?

BlueJay465 writes "On almost every news outlet, everyone is talking about the price of oil, both foreign and domestic. This sent me to do some research on what it would take to keep the investment in my current vehicle, while getting the added benefits of hybrid-electric technology at the lowest price. One company, Sigma Automotive, has already jumped on that bandwagon, and will soon be offering a kit for your car engine that will boost performance and increase fuel-economy by adding all the extra electronics, hardware and capacity (avail. Q3-Q4 2004). My question is, how much would it cost to really 'Do It Yourself' using off-the-shelf parts?"

Comments

Transmission woes.

[Pyro226]

The transmission would be one of the hardest things to deal with. You want the gasoline engine to be at a peak efficiency RPM as much as possible. The best way to do this in a hybrid car is to have the electric motor generate electricity when spinning the engine at an efficient RPM would provide too much acceleration, and use electricity when an efficient engine RPM isn't enough acceleration.

The toyata prius has a very special system that deals with this, as this page shows. Especially with hybrid SUV's coming out soon, building your own hybrid seems like it would be way too much work.

Also keep in mind, that right now making a hybrid car (for a major automanufacturer) costs several thousand dollars more than making an equivalent conventional car mostly because they don't have enough mass production on the hybrid parts, and they are making thousands and thousands of cars. Buying the parts individually, the price would be outragous.