Whoever wrote:
> On Thu, 24 Nov 2005, Ted Mittelstaedt wrote:
>
> >
> > The significant thing here is that in the Prius or other hybrid you
> > have a complete vehicle chassis with an interior, carpet, seats,
> > etc. and powertrain that is fully electric. 80% of the work is done
> > for you in building an electric car, all you have to do is gut the
> > gas engine and traction battery and the Toyota computer, and
> > put your own batteries in, configured to supply the power that
> > the Toyota traction motor requires, and add a charger.
> >
> A group of researchers built an interesting mod to a Prius (or some other
> hybrid). They added more batteries - but not enough for a long range --
> and a charger.
>
> The result was a vehicle that could cope with a short commute using energy
> from the overnight charge, while long distances could also be achieved
> through the gas engine. The overall fuel economy (and vehicle cost) was
> significantly greater than that of the original hybrid, while the range
> was grater than that of a 100% battery vehicle.

I recently saw a print article about this topic, not sure if this is
the full thing, but quite interesting to me.

http://www.sdreader.com/php/cover.ph...=1&id=20051020

"The chassis that's sitting in a workroom on the campus of San Diego
State University is painted a shade of red you'd expect to see on the
lips of an attention-starved woman. On a car, the color conjures up
speed, sass, and power. But this car's looks are deceptive. Although
it can blast from a standstill to 60 miles per hour in less than five
seconds, a single gallon of fuel can propel the vehicle 80 miles. The
engine is augmented by a battery-powered motor, which can be recharged
by plugging a cord into an ordinary wall socket. And the engine fuel?
You can run it on diesel if that's convenient. But soybean oil works
just as well."

"San Diego State University Professor Jim Burns says people have asked
him where they could buy a car like this. "Nowhere," he has to say.
When Burns and his team of engineering students designed and built the
car -- which they called the "Enigma" -- they weren't trying to develop
a commercial product. Instead they wanted to prove that it was possible
to make an automobile that used no fossil fuels, got phenomenal
mileage, and looked and performed like a race car. Four years later,
Burns and a new team of students are attempting to transform
Chevrolet's Equinox into the kind of SUV even an environmentalist could
love. Their work is part of the Challenge X competition, which is being
cosponsored by General Motors and the Department of Energy. Theirs is
one of 17 teams, and hardly among the front-runners."

The team's site is at:

http://www.engineering.sdsu.edu/~hev/index.htm

Dave