Hitch mounted car pusher motor

Joined
May 26, 2008
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951
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Chicago area
This has probably been discussed previously, but here goes.

Converting an existing car to electric assist is usually difficult and not worth the cost. I was thinking, why not attach a big 10KW hub motor (hub monster?) mounted in a heavy duty wheel to a car's rear trailer hitch? Use a spring to preload the wheel tension. It would need to be able to turn a bit to prevent tire slippage in corners. Batteries and controller in trunk. Current-limiting throttle. Probably not so good for accelerating from a stop, but for cruising at 30-40 MPH, 13 HP should be adequate. Gas motor would be idling most of the time to keep power steering, brakes, etc working. Should be pretty efficient and easy to move between cars. Fantastic regen with all that mass. Any issues at highway speeds? I would think just powering it down would keep it from being harmed.

Thoughts?

-Warren
 
LOL, well that video carefully didn't show anything. You can see that he used a motorcycle rear wheel and that he had a mechanism to lift it out of the way when he was backing up. Obviously a top speed of 45 mph, which is about what I'd be looking for. Also it was pretty noisy which to me means he must have had some kind of step down gearing. I'd like to know what kind of motor he used.

Image1.jpg

Warren
 
I like it a lot, but...

Maybe u have it all wrong. Electric has great torque & crap highway, & petrol the opposite.

Its for; a boost getting rolling, extended stop start, boost on hill climbs and regen braking & charging.

Getting rolling is the worst duty for transmissions. Slipping the clutch and lurching e.g. in a manual (clearly shown in way smooth prius etc. vs a normal car - the motor kicks in at 20kph~. Even 5kph is paradise as a starting point for a transmission vs zero kph.).

they key utility is regen, as u say. So a hi c rate battery is better to absorb these bursts of power.

in short, its not for driving the car, its for helping and smoothing the car, using largely waste power .

I take your point. Engine always on, at least at idle, for simple accessories, but ideally, the electric thing precludes much of the need to run it in gridlock, when improved.

Except a/c, the min idle speed rpm is more than enough for the rest, allowing batteries to be recharged at the lights etc, with no net fuel used.
elegantly simple and doable. just the back end of a supnsion hub motor ebike, bolted to a tow bar. Cool.
 
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