Homemade Hybrid Car

Robert Kelly smiles when you call him a tinkerer. The evidence is plain to see.

Inside the kitchen of Kelly’s home, a converted school house built in the late 18th century, is a large island with a granite countertop that is located in the middle of the room.

“That was last year’s project,” Kelly says.

Outside his house are large piles of wood, fuel for the wood stove he plans to install. Walk over to the garage, and you’ll see Kelly’s latest project, one that took all summer.

An electric car.

Home-made

But this isn’t some store-bought electric vehicle. It’s home-made. Kelly, a builder and musician, bought a 1997 Volkswagon Jetta for $1,000 from a local auto dealer last spring and spent the whole summer converting it from gas to electric power.

Although he’s still putting the finishing touches on his car, the vehicle is operational, and has a range of between 30 and 50 miles.

“I’ve been to Lee,” Kelly said. “But the speedometer isn’t working, so I’m guessing at my mileage.”

A former mechanic, Kelly said he has always been interested in finding alternative ways to make things operate.

“That’s always fascinated me,” he said.

Research

While spending the last few years researching different vehicles that use alternative fuels, Kelly learned of clubs that have been formed by car converters.

Last spring, he attended a meeting of the New England Electric Auto Association in Killingworth, Conn., which has around 30 members. (Another electric car association is based in Amherst).

“I was pleased to find a support group to deal with all of this,” Kelly said. “Lots of times I head into a project and I don’t know if it will work or not.”

Encouraged by what he learned at the meeting, Kelly said he purchased the Jetta a week after returning to Great Barrington.

Plug-in Hybrid Car

At this morning’s preview to the 2008 Sydney motor show at Darling Harbour, Holden confirmed the Chevrolet Volt electric car will be on sale in Australia in 2012.

The announcement came as a shock from a car maker whose previous show stoppers were defined by their big V8s and sporty looks. At this year’s Melbourne motor show, for example, Holden unveiled a souped up Monaro powered by a massive V8.

The local unveiling of the Volt marks a turning point for the world’s biggest car maker which in January predicted the end of cheap oil was imminent and sent the rest of the car world into a spin – and engineers into their laboratories.

Almost every major car maker has since confirmed it is working on a plug-in electric car or some other fuel efficient vehicle.

The price of the Volt would not be confirmed until it goes on sale but it is expected to cost in excess of $30,000.

The Volt is about the same size as a Holden Astra sedan and can run on battery power alone for 64km. Studies in the US show that this covers the average daily commute for 78 per cent of drivers in North America. The Volt takes between three and eight hours to recharge and GM estimates the energy bill is equivalent to a household refrigerator.

However, the Volt has a total driving range of more than 1000km because a small petrol-powered motor is used to run a generator which, in turn, recharges the car’s battery pack while on the move.

Holden’s chairman and managing director, American Mark Reuss, who has been in the job for only eight months, used his contacts in Detroit to fast-track the Volt coming to Australia.

Indeed, the Volt’s Sydney appearance is its first outside the US and only the second public showing globally.

A statement issued by Holden said: “It is a reflection of the importance of the Australian market for General Motors that a vehicle as significant as Volt has been provided for this show. This technology is potentially the most exciting addition to GM’s range of alternative fuels on the horizon … by reducing our dependence on foreign oil.”

Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid Concept

At the 2008 Paris Motor Show, Hyundai displayed a hybrid version of its Santa Fe small SUV. This hybrid powertrain uses a 2.4-liter gas engine complemented by a 40 horsepower electric motor that generates 151 pound-feet of torque. A six-speed automatic transmission delivers this combined power to the wheels. But the real innovation in Hyundai’s hybrid system is the use of a 270 volt lithium polymer battery pack. Hyundai says that lithium polymer has greater energy density than lithium ion, can take more recharging cycles, and is cheaper to manufacture. In the Santa Fe Hybrid, this system returns 38 miles per gallon fuel economy.

The Santa Fe Hybrid demonstrates a hybrid powertrain that has been under development since 1999, although Hyundai introduced its current form in 2004. This hybrid system uses idle-stop to save gas, and recaptures energy from braking to recharge the battery. Hyundai intends to market its first hybrid, an Elantra, in Korea next year. No word on if or when Hyundai will make a hybrid available in the U.S.

See all coverage of the 2008 Paris Motor Show

Honda’s Hybrid Will Take On Toyota Prius

Global auto makers are rushing to challenge the dominance of Toyota Motor Corp.’s Prius hybrid with a slew of ecofriendly vehicles. But Honda Motor Co. is likely to pose the most formidable threat to Toyota when it unveils its new Insight hybrid car Thursday at the Paris Auto Show.

Honda is betting that the five-passenger hatchback, set to go on sale next spring, will steal away Prius buyers by delivering greenness for fewer greenbacks. Honda has yet to disclose many details about the car or its cost, and it calls the car to be shown in Paris a concept, but it says Insight “will be priced significantly lower than hybrids available today.” Analysts expect the model will cost less than $20,000, undercutting the current $22,000 starting price of the Prius.

“It will be the first affordable hybrid for everyone,” says Tatsuo Yoshida, an analyst for UBS Securities Research in Tokyo.

New hybrid models are also on the way from Nissan Motor Co., Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp., among others. But Honda and Toyota have an advantage thanks to their substantial lead in developing hybrid technology, analysts say. Toyota, including its luxury brand Lexus, had a 79% share of the U.S. hybrid car and light-truck market in the January-August period this year, according to Autodata Corp. Honda was a distant second with 11% of the market, followed by Ford with 6%.