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This reminds me of a Latin American startup, Exponential Motors [0], which developed a hybrid conversion kit. Not fully EV, but it can help to reduce fuel costs

by ajot 7y ago

This reminds me of a Latin American startup, Exponential Motors [0], which developed a hybrid conversion kit. Not fully EV, but it can help to reduce fuel costs and CO2 emissions, and is not much more expensive than fitting a compressed natural gas tank to a car (a common practice at least in Argentina). [0] http://exponentialmotors.com/ http://exponentialmotors.com/

subw00f 7y ago
The gas tank adapation is also common practice in Brazil, especially in taxis and ride sharing cars.
- ColanR 7y ago
  It's also common in Bolivia, and for personal vehicles as well. The reason we don't have it in the US, from what I've heard, is because it doesn't meet our safety standards.
  - blattimwind 7y ago
    > The reason we don't have it in the US, from what I've heard, is because it doesn't meet our safety standards. These are decently common in Europe so it's relatively doubtful that there are significant safety concerns.
    - walshemj 7y ago
      They are popular for tax reasons - years ago I had a mate who was a sales rep for calor gas and their company cars had gas conversions.
    - ColanR 7y ago
      In Bolivia you have to get out of the car while fueling, because there's a nonzero chance the car will explode. We're a little too stringent about that sort of thing in the US.
      - anticensor 7y ago
        Including passengers?
        ColanR 7y ago
        Especially the passengers. They have buses running on natural gas, and when they need to fill up everyone piles out.
  - itomato 7y ago
    CNG is available and common in fleet use. The big complaint is about performance. CNG cars aren't generally as quick or fast as their gas counterpart.
Scoundreller 7y ago
I've always wondered if we could have a drop-in kit that could turn any car into a mild plug-in hybrid. Electric loads take up ~10% of a car's fuel consumption.
- close04 7y ago
  How did you get to that number? The electrical load varies wildly depending on what you turn on and what you even have available on the particular car. The same car with the exact same electrical devices might have wildly different engines, down to the fuel used. How would that percentage apply to the whole range of combinations? Just the seat heating would have a huge difference on the electrical load for 2 otherwise identical cars. The 10% can't be a constant.
  - Scoundreller 7y ago
    Just like mpg, i’m Sure it’s based on an average. From the PDF at https://inldigitallibrary.inl.gov/sites/sti/sti/7146807.pdf https://inldigitallibrary.inl.gov/sites/sti/sti/7146807.pdf > Additionally, the impact of auxiliary load on the overall on-road vehicle fuel consumption was determined to be on average between 7.5% and 18%. This shows the auxiliary load consumes a significant amount of energy during real world on-road driving as well as reinforces the importance of the potential energy saving improvements that could be made by improving alternator efficiency or reducing auxiliary loads.

by ajot 7y ago

subw00f 7y ago

The gas tank adapation is also common practice in Brazil, especially in taxis and ride sharing cars.

ColanR 7y ago
It's also common in Bolivia, and for personal vehicles as well. The reason we don't have it in the US, from what I've heard, is because it doesn't meet our safety standards.
- blattimwind 7y ago
  > The reason we don't have it in the US, from what I've heard, is because it doesn't meet our safety standards. These are decently common in Europe so it's relatively doubtful that there are significant safety concerns.
  - walshemj 7y ago
    They are popular for tax reasons - years ago I had a mate who was a sales rep for calor gas and their company cars had gas conversions.
  - ColanR 7y ago
    In Bolivia you have to get out of the car while fueling, because there's a nonzero chance the car will explode. We're a little too stringent about that sort of thing in the US.
    - anticensor 7y ago
      Including passengers?
      - ColanR 7y ago
        Especially the passengers. They have buses running on natural gas, and when they need to fill up everyone piles out.
- itomato 7y ago
  CNG is available and common in fleet use. The big complaint is about performance. CNG cars aren't generally as quick or fast as their gas counterpart.

Scoundreller 7y ago

I've always wondered if we could have a drop-in kit that could turn any car into a mild plug-in hybrid. Electric loads take up ~10% of a car's fuel consumption.

close04 7y ago
How did you get to that number? The electrical load varies wildly depending on what you turn on and what you even have available on the particular car. The same car with the exact same electrical devices might have wildly different engines, down to the fuel used. How would that percentage apply to the whole range of combinations? Just the seat heating would have a huge difference on the electrical load for 2 otherwise identical cars. The 10% can't be a constant.
- Scoundreller 7y ago
  Just like mpg, i’m Sure it’s based on an average. From the PDF at https://inldigitallibrary.inl.gov/sites/sti/sti/7146807.pdf https://inldigitallibrary.inl.gov/sites/sti/sti/7146807.pdf > Additionally, the impact of auxiliary load on the overall on-road vehicle fuel consumption was determined to be on average between 7.5% and 18%. This shows the auxiliary load consumes a significant amount of energy during real world on-road driving as well as reinforces the importance of the potential energy saving improvements that could be made by improving alternator efficiency or reducing auxiliary loads.