Is there a reason to use this setup?
I agree - the normal operation of a non-plug-in hybrid is to meet general power demand directly with the engine, supplementing it with electrical power for acceleration and recharging with regenerative braking by using surplus engine output when demand is low.
Not quite. You can (as in the Azure Dynamics Balance system) just use a motor with a shaft that sticks out both ends of the motor, so the motor shaft (which is just one solid part) forms one part of the truck's driveshaft. When the motor is not powered, it just spins like a plain piece of shaft; when it is powered it adds torque to whatever is coming from the transmission. The speed of the shaft from the transmission to the motor and the shaft from the motor to the axle are the same, because they are just sections of the same shaft.
No, trucks like that normally use a driveshaft in two sections, just to avoid any shaft section being too long to be just supported at the ends; just look under a big straight truck (not a tractor for semi-trailers) the next time you walk or drive by one. Even some much smaller vehicles use shafts in two sections, for various reasons of joint types and component packaging, but cars and pickups do usually just use a single section.
Correct: if anything is inserted between the transmission and the axle then the final shaft section to the axle must be kept long enough to keep joint angles reasonable and to allow the splined section to plunge enough to accommodate suspension travel.
I think your first step ought to be to ask yourself; "what is the end goal?" I am sure there is a way to build what you are describing, and If I was going to have anyone's help in researching and designing it, it would be Brian_'s
. I am just not sure what you hope that this system is going to actually do. It will likely be too expensive to ever save you money, and I dont know anything about performance, but I suspect if you want more power there are much easier (and cheaper) ways to get it (like putting in a bigger gas engine). I am not an expert on hybrids, but to get a boost to efficiency, you would need to be managing the ICE to keep it running at peak efficiency, shutting off when electric power is sufficient, and also charging your battery when that is needed. Without some serious modification to how and when the gas engine runs, I am not really sure what you are going to gain, or how you are even going to effectively control the throttle.Absolutely!
While a very simple control system for the electric components is possible and practical, I agree that doing this well enough to really benefit is difficult. One reason that I linked the article about the Balance system is that it describes the extent of modifications that Azure Dynamics made to make the overall system work well enough to justify the costs, beyond simply adding a battery, controller, and motor.
Thanks for simplifying things for me, I tend to over-complicate things. I should have realized the motor is straight through. I hope to find the most popular system and do that. I don't need to re-invent anything, want to keep it KISS.
Thanks, all for the wake-up call, it really helps. I built two total solar cars for Villanova University a long time ago. One racer, one commuter. I didn't build it all, just helped the students and did what they couldn't. I was impressed that the cars were total solar. Now I see hybrids in the parking lots, quietly pulling away. Around here, Bristol, Tennessee, it's popular to modify trucks for off-road, so modifying is very popular. They have weekly car shows downtown for folks to show off their work. I'm really hoping to be able to build a hybrid as cheaply as possible, sell it and then build another. Profit is the motive to be honest. I'm hoping the uniqueness will make the sale.
If that is your goal, you might want to try and find the buyer before you start. I had to look them up, but I guess hybrid trucks are a thing already.
www.caranddriver.com
The F-150 is just the latest hybrid truck. There is a current mild hybrid system available on Ram trucks, the most capable hybrid pickups ever built were the 2009-2013 GM full-size pickups and SUVs with the 2-Mode system, and GM also did a sort of mild hybrid from 2004 through 2008.
That's actually a massive improvement.
But this forum is primarily for battery-electric vehicles, not hybrids. In my limited time here, it seems that most hybrid proposals as expressed as "I want to add these components; how do I do it", rather than the more likely route to success, which would be "I want to achieve better economy (or performance, or whatever), what would achieve that?". As a result, they typically fizzle out when they turn out to be more work or less practical or of less benefit than desired.
