<VV> electronic corvair conversion

[Bill Elliott]

That reminds me of the "Foolproof Way to Make a Million Dollars":

Step 1: Start with 2 million dollars


Without some serious technology, electrifying a vehicle just doesn't make sense. A buddy of mine with a failr strong engineering background has been 
working for year on an electric Berkeley... a two passenger car that weighs 600lbs stock. So far, after years of devleopment, he's able to top 35mph and 
have a range of almost 20 miles.... though more usually more like 12.

To do this correctly you have to use and recycle every joule of potential engery... regenerative braking, etc.. much too complicated for the casual (or even 
semi-casual) builder. Plus battery technology has not changed much over the past several years, so you're still faced with the same inefficiencies with the 
batteries and the motor.

And even if you suceeded in coming up with a workable system, since most of our energy comes from coal-fired and natural gas plants, you're only moving 
the creation of the pollution elsewhere. Only if we heavily relied on nuclear power would this make much ecological sense.

Gasoline (or diesel) is still the most viable option. If you really wanted to go down this road you'd want a biodiesel hybrid... IMO. And I'd sugest you'd NEVER 
recoup your costs in any sort of savings... even the car companies can't make hybrids work... they cost more to build and run over "normal" cars that you 
could never recoup the energy by savings... it's sort of like solar cells... more energy goes into making a solar cell than they will likely ever produce over 
their lifetime. But folks love pseudoscience...

Bill Elliott 

>> OK...with the increase Oil and gas prices, is it time to revisit the 
>> Electro-Vair experiments?
>>   What can we do as Hobbists to convert into electronic as others have with 
>> v-6's and V-8's?
>>   what can we do to make them hy-brids?
>>   Thoughts? costs? Equipment?
>>