Desertprep
1 kW
I tried to search this forum for electric bus, but the term "bus" is used in many aspects of electric vehicles. I am shopping for a used school bus now to convert into an RV. As I was trying to work around the space that the engine and drive train take up in these I thought, "if this were electric powered, I could add a genset head to the engine, mount a motor on the transmission and have a lot of room....well...how practical is this? I have seen some 200hp 3phase traction motors for sale for $6K. The motor in the bus now put out 180hp at about 2300 rpms and about 450 ft pounds of torque. I am guessing that a controller might cost $3-4K? Allison is selling trucks now that use transmissions from diesel powered vehicles that are driven by electric motors, so there are means to connect them. My hope is that I would be able to use a slightly smaller diesel engine to generate electricity than I would need to power the wheels directly, maybe use a 4bt instead of a 6bt and be able to run it at a fairly constant speed, thus saving some fuel. Batteries might be useful to provide additional juice to pass on the freeway (yes, I want to be able to cruise at 65) or even power the bus for 20 miles at 30 or 35 mph. It might also be possible to use some kind of high voltage, high capacity capacitors to store electricity for that purpose. While I am at it...install a motor on the front wheel and one on the back to get AWD - maybe 2x125 or 150 hp motors?....My idea has gone beyond the stage of being a whim - I am doing some rough research now to see if it is possible, and then step three will be to get an idea of how much $$ it will cost. Please feel free to provide links to articles on this forum or others.
