My brother had pointed me to a link for a supercharger that replaced your
alternator...it was basically an electric assist motor that bolted in place
of the alternator...

As soon as I find the link I will send it out...some school had been
researching it and they said it would be available some time 05...

In essence they said you would see like 25% gain in gas mileage....

Dave

On 9/28/05, Edward Maglott <emaglott@buncombe.main.nc.us> wrote:
>
> I bet you could homebrew something like this. Motor/generator to drive the
> front wheels with some kind of clutch to disengage it when it is not in
> use. Maybe a simple driver actuated control that would put power to it
> when you wanted to use it to move the van. And some kind of actuator on
> the brake pedal that would engage it in regenerative braking mode as you
> slow down. There would have to be some kind of safety that would disengage
> it under hard braking so it doesn't throw off the brake bias. Probably a
> pretty simple computer program could take over the application of power to
> the electric motor based on gas pedal depression, battery charge level,
> etc. Hmmm, this might work better in an auto trans van. Actually starting
> and stopping the gas engine would add more complexity, and now the auto
> trans doesn't seem as good since the engine has to be spinning its input
> shaft while the vehicle is in motion. Ok, leave the gas engine running,
> the electric motor will still help you out and recapture the energy wasted
> by braking. There is room under the van between the frame rails for some
> batteries.
>
> Edward
>
> At 05:58 PM 9/28/2005, you wrote:
> >I have been following the discussions on Fuel Economy, and Diesel
> engines,
> >and all the other ways to save $ and Fuel. I am wondering what else can
> be
> >done on a stock Vanagon. I drive a 86 GL myself.
> >I was wondering how hard it would be to hybridize a vanagon. Add a little
> >helper motor/generator like in an honda insight? Could you take a
> synchro,
> >and put the motor/generator up front? What other Ideas could be done?
> >
> >Just puting my .02 out there.
> >
> >Matt
> >
> >
> >--
> >Any opinions stated here are my own, otherwise someone else would have
> >said them.
>