Electric Car Conversion: The Amazing 75-MPG Hybrid Car
Gasoline-electric hybrid car technology is nothing new. In this electric car conversion, an Opel GT becomes a hybrid car — long before the Toyota Prius was even a twinkle in engineers' eyes.
July/August 1979
By Robert W. Marshall
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Mr. Arthurs will have the most economical set of wheels in town!
STAFF PHOTOS
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With the price of gasoline already out of sight, just about everyone is scrambling for a way to squeeze the last possible drop of energy from each precious gallon. However, David Arthurs — of Springdale, Ark. — probably couldn't care less ... because he has designed and built a car that can travel 75 miles or more on just four quarts of the expensive liquid!
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What's his secret? Well, Dave's Opel CT is a hybrid electric car. That is, the car is driven by an electric motor ... but that powerplant's "juice" is generated with the help of an ordinary, fuel-stingy lawn-mower engine! Now the fact that the system works isn't really surprising. What's amazing is that the crossbreed hookup performs so well! According to David, the Opel has not only a virtually unlimited range (when driven prudently), but also a top speed of 90 miles per hour ... and emits a minimum of pollutants as it tools along the highway. Better yet, the car can-if need be-run on its batteries alone for short in-town hops ... and will never be "stranded" as long as there's fuel in the "on board" generator!
(Learn more about our Hybrid Car Blueprints.)
World War II Technology
Mr. Arthurs is the first to admit that there's nothing "new" to the system he's developed ... in fact, all the technology incorporated into his design has been available for about 35 years, just waiting for someone to put two and two together and make the whole thing work. "I began researching the idea for a hybrid electric auto about a year ago. There wasn't much information to be found on the subject, so I designed a system from scratch. In about a month's evening-and-weekend time, I had the car finished and running."
Surprisingly enough, the project didn't cost a fortune, either. Because the vehicle's components are either standard "off the shelf" hardware or available as reasonably priced military surplus, the conversion to "hybrid drive" only set Dave back about $1,500. By the same token, any necessary replacement parts are easily obtainable ... and a good deal of the equipment can be "scrounged" rather than purchased new.
How it Works
In essence, David has utilized a small gas lawn-mower engine to drive a generator, which-in turn-supplies the vehicle's drive motor with electricity. To do so, he first removed the Opel's original power-plant and installed a 400-amp DC motor/ generator (actually a jet engine's starting motor) in its place. (Since there's no need for a clutch in Dave's setup, the stock unit was pulled out and the main shaft of the drive motor was fastened directly to the input shaft of the car's transmission.) Then, to provide a consistent source of power for this motor (and to supply an energy storage bank), the engineer installed four 12-volt, heavy-duty automobile batteries-in series-which are "fed" by a 100-amp generator that's run off a 5-horsepower lawn-mower engine.
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