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Old 11-18-2012, 06:03 AM
 
Location: Lafayette, Louisiana
14,100 posts, read 28,419,632 times
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OK, does this drive the rear wheels? I'm confused as to how this would work. If it drives the rear wheels, how is it connected to the car's drive system telling it to turn on the electric motors? For $3,000, is it really worth the money? Another question, if it drives the rear wheels of a FWD vehicle, wouldn't that create damaging stress on the rear suspension which is not designed to take the stress of being drive wheels? I don't think this "professor" has thought this idea all the way through.
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Old 11-18-2012, 07:00 AM
 
Location: Prosper
6,255 posts, read 17,006,615 times
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Not enough info in that article to really dissect how the system works, but I believe the drive wheels would stay the same. If it's a FWD car, you mount them on the front wheels. RWD, they are mounted in the rear.
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Old 11-18-2012, 07:04 AM
 
8,402 posts, read 24,128,767 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MckinneyOwnr View Post
Not enough info in that article to really dissect how the system works, but I believe the drive wheels would stay the same. If it's a FWD car, you mount them on the front wheels. RWD, they are mounted in the rear.
The video showed the system being mounted on the rear wheels of a Honda.
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Old 11-18-2012, 07:08 AM
 
Location: Lafayette, Louisiana
14,100 posts, read 28,419,632 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vmaxnc View Post
The video showed the system being mounted on the rear wheels of a Honda.
I noticed that as well. They were being mounted on the non-drive wheels. If the system turns the non-drive wheels into an electric motor drive wheel, wouldn't that put additional stresses on the rear suspension system in ways they weren't designed to handle?
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Old 11-18-2012, 07:28 AM
 
882 posts, read 2,084,837 times
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The idea is straightforward - to convert braking into electricity. Not a bad thing, but not going to save much (if any) fuel for most folks...
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Old 11-18-2012, 08:04 AM
 
8,402 posts, read 24,128,767 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sailordave View Post
I noticed that as well. They were being mounted on the non-drive wheels. If the system turns the non-drive wheels into an electric motor drive wheel, wouldn't that put additional stresses on the rear suspension system in ways they weren't designed to handle?
I won't second the guess the engineers working on this, because I'm not one. OTOH, I do see all kinds of issues with that setup, especially since they're touting it as being very simple. The video has too little info to address those issues. And we all know that anything with "universal fit" seldom does.
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Old 11-18-2012, 09:05 AM
 
Location: Prosper
6,255 posts, read 17,006,615 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vmaxnc View Post
The video showed the system being mounted on the rear wheels of a Honda.
Doh! I just read the article, didn't even realize there was a video.
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Old 11-18-2012, 11:26 AM
 
28,803 posts, read 47,536,195 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vmaxnc View Post
The video showed the system being mounted on the rear wheels of a Honda.
Blind as a bat here asking where the video is... A link perhaps?

Edit: Never mind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOA_i2qAQq0
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Old 11-18-2012, 01:15 PM
 
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I had the same idea several years ago. Im glad to see someone with the money and experts working on making it work.
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Old 11-18-2012, 02:53 PM
 
19,023 posts, read 25,889,160 times
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There IS missing info...... This system appears to be independent of any other car system. So You need a main switch to turn off the rest of the car, and still unlock steering, run lights and have a vac pump take over for vac assist brakes.

Since it is designed for speeds under 40 the normal suspention should work fine. This is effectively 1 wheel drive unit which will also be it's own brake added to the normal brakes.

The way this appears to work to me is the electro magnets either spin up the wheel or would slow it down. And the riggin in the truck/hatch area seems to run it all. The link video didn't get into what that was, but it seems to be a battery, a motor, an alternator, combo unit that would send power to the wheel.

That power is somewhat different that a gas car would have as I assume there would be no free wheel coasting. You either have power or are taking power away, so the wheel is going faster or slowing but never free wheels and or coasts.

So you have power and breaking right there... but probably not stopping power, where the real brakes take over.
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