Car to hybrid conversion?

don't bother
not worth the price/effort

I have played with the idea of converting my gasoline to a hybrid also. After seeing a gasoline to electric home project, the idea of making a homebred hybrid felt out of my league. For one I suspect or guess at the minimum a 1-2 year project if you know what you are doing. If you are new to welding and electrical work, I am guessing closer to 4-6 years. I have no experience in custom fabrication nor do I have any in automotive design.

Its a nice dream project for the average want a hybrid. But I saw a posting earlier that basically said "its A LOT easier to just buy a new hybrid". I'll just keep my gasoline car around for those long road trips but a full on electric would be my go getter for the daily grind. That is what I'd prefer to have but, cost... and time is a big factor plus I have no technical knowledge on where to begin. Plus I'd like to have a guru or someone to walk me thru such a project.

Eventually, I'll be buying a Telsa Roaster instead of a NSX. Both are hot sleak cars. But of course if you can be green and still look hot, why not. :D

It seems easy enough with a kit. gm's hybrid motor is the alternator, and it flips from generating power to pushing the car. A computer thats tapped into the brake pedal switch (to learn to generate power) and the throttle (when to assist). So if there was a kit that you could just replace the alternator with a similar unit, and a computer that controls the operation of the alternator/generator, it should work on almost any car. the gm's motor is about 5 hp, vs honda/nissan/toyota which I believe is about 40 hp. In theory it still should provide gains on any car. Imagine a hybrid festiva that already gets 40 mpg!

If there is one vehicle out there on the road that owners like to keep rolling it's a Jeep. The different models go all the way back to WW2. Please tell me someone out there is making a hybrid kit to drop into a Jeep. I have a 2005 Jeep Wrangler Sport I would like to convert. Can anyone help me. If you have the answer please contact me at scubadoogary@yahoo.com

yo with Gas at $5.50 - $6.00 a gallon I think Momey would be better spent on converting my gas gusseller to a hybrid. Taking on ANOTHER EXPENSE will most definitely send me to welfare, food stamps and 3 Pt jobs ( dude... the job part I do already).

I don't think that converting a car to a hybrid is worth the time and the spendings.I would advise to buy a new hybrid car.

Yes, folks certainly are disappointed with hybrids, especially when they don't get to feel as rich at the gas station as the guy that can afford $120 to fill his big macho truck up for another 300 miles.

We all get it, it's not worth it from a financial standpoint! what if money isn't the limiting factor? let's all pretend we have unlimited funds, unlimited free time, and the know how to get it done. where do we start. i've been dreaming for a long time about converting a jetta TDI (which already gets 40mpg) to a plug-in hybrid. how do i do it? are their existing parts to get it done or do i need degrees in physics and mechanical and electrical engineering to invent some stuff?

Interesting perspective. My big macho truck is a diesel that does 20 mpg. I'd like to see more focus on converting our trucking industry over to a cleaner burning fuel like natural gas. The bus conversions appear to be win-win. Electric won't be pushing eighteen wheelers in our lifetimes and yes you need trucking to get your conversion kit 'next day'.
Lets get rid of coal fired electric plants and switch back to nuclear, we can reuse spent uranium rods now. Have you thought about voting McCain?

hybrids were good , but fusion is better, hey scottie! where's my phaser? are you ready for that away mission yet?

http://www.sigmaauto.com/electrocharger/electrocharger.php

bolt on hybrid just like gm

lets not toss out an already good vehicle and spend alot on a new hybrid i hopefully will soon have a system that will convert a gas motor to have the option of: pure gas, hybrid, or pure electric. I just need to get a few electronic controls built and learn how to work with the cars computer.

a small light weight 4WD is all you need to make a hybrid
disconnect the drive shaft to the rear axel and put in a electric motor there.
replace the rear seat with a battery box.
electric power via an electric clutch to the rear wheels
a control system that will allow you to drive ether electric or petrol or both
slowing down use the electric motor to charge the batteries.
been there done that in 1975
70 mph on ether drive