Now here'* an interesting company...they make a 300hp or 600hp electric Mustang. It'* a bit pricey ($100,000 with the cost of the car) and only has a range of 125 miles, but raises some thoughts on what you could do to retro-fit a car.

http://www.ronaele.net/Vehicles/vehicles.html

The actual motors used are intended for forklifts, and the real technology is the batteries being used. But it makes me wonder just how hard would it be to adapt the motors to drive a car, like the Bonneville, as a daily commuter vehicle. I'll have to take a closer look at the electric forklifts we have running around the warehouse every night. I bet you could gang several motors on a planetary gearbox and make an engine package about the same physical size and shape as the 3800.

If you were to do such a thing....it would definately have to be w/o a 4T-60e...maybe a 4T-60 or a 440T4, or do a manual conversion, which now that I think about it, would be better suited for an electric motor...otherwise the motor would have to spin constantly to feed trans fluid to the circuits.

I'm wondering if you would need any form of transmission at all beyond a planetary/reduction gearbox to tie the motors together and improve their torque. I'll have to take a closer look at our lift motors to see how they work. On a diesel-electric locomotive, the power is handled by connecting additional windings on the alternator...I wonder if the same idea would work on these motors...turn on more winding to up the power output.

Also, I don't think you would want a clutch of any sort involved...under deceleration you want the vehicles momentum transfered back through the motors (now generators) to be fed back into the batteries.

Actually, the more I think of this...you could probably make the entire assembly into a cradle-sized pancake that takes the place of the existing engine & transmission.

That being the case, the obstacle to work around would be the axles. Now, I *suppose* you could have two independant motors, one per wheel, and reduction gearing...or one of those "variable ratio" gearboxes, or whatever you call them. Add a controler for the two motors that interface with the ABS wheel speed sensors so it "knows" you are making a turn, and can vary the motors speed to enable a chirp-free turn.

Hmmm... I don't think individual motors would be the answer, it limits the placement of the motors where they must line up with the wheels.

I think the differential would be all it takes. The final step in the gearbox would have to spin a differential that can accept the CV'*. Make the "pancake" fit the chassis like the car'* original engine and transmission.

Possibly use a single or multiple chains to connect the output of the motor to the countershaft that spins the differential and axles. The case would look more like the transfer case on a 4wd truck...X number of motors plug in on one side, arranged around a single gear and running in parallel, that gear driving a countershaft with a differential that can accept the CV'* as output shafts to the wheels.

A lot of gear would automatically come out of the car...fuel tank, cooling system, exhaust, every bit of the emmissions controls gear. Probably about 300 lbs worth of stuff would come out and their weight replaced with batteries.

Brakes would need to be re-worked to have enough fluid pressure the stop the car without vac assist. The HVAC system would need to be re-engineered...no hot coolant for heat, no spinning motor to drive the A/C compressor. And last...something would need to be done with the power steering..since there'* no "power" to power it. Anybody every run a manual rack and pinion in an H-body?