You state when you talk about the AZD system as in parallel, meaning I believe side by side (and I may not be thinking clearly at the moment)...
Briefly reviewing hybrid terminology:
Hybrid configurations are classified by the path of the power, from source to wheels.
- In a series hybrid, all power from the engine goes through the electric system: the power flows through the engine and electric motor in series. There is no way to get power from the engine to the wheels except by running the generator to produce electrical power for the motor.
- In a parallel hybrid, the engine (plus transmission) and the electric system (battery and motor) are both mechanically connected to the wheels; they can deliver different amounts of power at the same time. That means that either one can drive the vehicle, separately or in combination.
- There are hybrid vehicles which can switch multiple power flow configurations, and others that split the flow of power between a series path and a mechanical path (mixed-mode or power-split designs, such as the Toyota and GM Two-Mode designs).
There are many possible physical configurations, so without seeing what shaft connects to what, it can be hard to tell whether a particular configuration functions as a series or parallel or mixed mode hybrid.
Since the desire here is apparently to be able to operate on engine power without using the electric powertrain, a parallel hybrid is the target.
What I was envisioning was (if, and I think I will) I go 4wd, I do not want the front drive shaft to be to long and therefore potentially weaker (by mounting a divorced transfer case if I do not have to)
My divorced transfer case example was using a transfer case just to combine the engine and motor outputs, without building a custom gearbox; it wouldn't provide 4WD.
So I will mount the transfer case to the 545 tranny and put the motor(s) in series off of the case. Am I making sense here and please tell me if I am not as I am working through it in my head first.
That works. Keep in mind that inline with a shaft is not the same as a series hybrid. The motor could be on the rear output of the transfer case inline with the shaft to the rear axle (as long as the transfer case is in 4WD, even with the transmission or transfer case range shift in neutral the motor would still drive the front through the transfer case). As an alternative, with some transfer cases (generally all-gear offset designs) it could be at the PTO port (it would put power in where power is usually taken out to drive stuff such as winches or hydraulic pumps).
We have had some recent discussions of potential arrangements with transfer cases. I didn't realize until I did a search just now how often "transfer case" comes up in DIYElectricCar discussions, and some of them are hybrid proposals... but few if any are actually built. In
Planning 1975 Volvo c304 electric expedition camper, if you jump into the middle at
post #35 (to avoid a bunch of fascinating but irrelevant stuff about obscure Volvo trucks) you can follow a few posts of transfer case discussion.
And yes, thats what the AZD system does as far as the quote you put in. I just don't know how viable it is to recode their brains and whom I would actually get to do it.
I agree: unless you have good documentation and the software tools used by the AZD developers, making it work differently from the original would be a problem. If you are not able to do that, you can only copy the general configuration, not the actual electronic components.