[Tigers] Lotus Designs Extended Range Electric Crate Engine - Lotus - Jalopnik

[Thomas Witt]

Until a cost effective, light weight battery is created, this type of hybrid 
sure seems the way to go. The infastructure (gas stations) are there for the 
power source.

 I have the powertrain from a Jet Electrica 007 
http://www.davisengineering.net/Jet.html .It got it when gas was $4.59 here 
in So. Cal..  The project killer is the $2,000 + for lead acid batteries 
with a life expectancy of 2 years.  I got the motor, controller, battery 
box, in car charger and accessories for $105 from Pick A Part.  The body 
shell to put it all in (Earlier Omni/Horizon or VW Rabbit - both used the 
same trans) maybe $500-$1,000.  But at this point $3.00 gas in my Mazda 323 
is still the better deal - at least for the time being.

Not quite the Lotus design here, but I had thought about a trailer hitch 
mounted gas engine with an alternator array for extended range.

"Living on the cutting edge of obsolescence," Tom