these have been around for a while in special applications.

they primarily use a standard electrical charge outlet for their
charging.  the engine is used to charge the batteries when needed or
in low level charge maintainer.
the serial hybrid is not really usable as a fuel saver like the
parallel systems.  the parallel systems use the normally wasted
kinetic energy to charge the batteries and are able to use the stored
charge to save on engine operations using fuel.  serial is always
using fuel unless an alternative charging system is available.

on the serial systems think of it as a battery powered car that
carries its own generator to recharge when needed.
jimt
On Nov 18, 2005, at 12:40 PM, Wil Haslup wrote:

> Recently I saw a segment of MotorWeek highlighting a small company
> building 'serial' hybrid conversions.  Serial hybrids are different
> from
> the parallel hybrids being built by the big manufacturers in that the
> fueled engine doesn't power the wheels and only charges the batteries
> that run the electric drives.
>
> They typically have 2 or 4 electric drive motors directly driving 2
> or 4
> of the wheels.
>
> The fueled engine can run in it's best RPM range at all times and
> can be
> of any variety...gas, diesel, piston, turbine, sterling, anything that
> can create electricity.
>
> It seems to me a serial retrofit of a Vanagon would be simpler and the
> thing could run anywhere any fueled vehicle could without depending on
> access to electricity.
>
> (...it seems you'd have to swap the fueled motor for one that is
> paired
> with a more powerful charging system, get your batteries, and four
> drive
> motors and adapt whatever wheel hardware to put them in.  The rest is
> pretty straight forward.)
>
>
>
> --
>
> Wil
>
>
> -- http://www.charmfx.com/
>
> "Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who
> are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it."
> -- Mark Twain
>
>