2011 370z, 400 hp..... hybrid?

wstar

I'm still not a fan of hybrid technology. It's an inefficient, wasteful design compared to an all-electric with a generator for extended range.

The correct design for an all-electric is: 4 electric motors, one in each wheel as an integral part of the hub/wheel, a sizable battery system that's capable, and a very advanced ECU to control the 4 motors and the charging system. There's no gearing and no drivetrain losses in such a setup. You get instant torque from 0rpm at all wheels. Top speed is limited by max engine RPM, but is usually sufficient (120 mph or higher, at the least). You also don't need conventional brakes, as the ECU can reverse current flow to the engines for torque braking that's more powerful than conventional brakes anyways (although I'm sure they'll have to add some kind of mechanical e-brake for power failure scenarios), and you get regenerative braking with that to help battery range. Prototypes of these designs have already been built by multiple smaller companies. Since the ECU can control individual torque at all 4 wheels (both negative (braking) and positive (accel)), it's also possible in software to replace all the functions of "limited slip", "ABS", "traction control", etc with much more advanced and precise variants. They get acceleration times that blow the doors off of just about anything.

The only issue is usually the allowable travelling range on a battery pack of reasonable weight. The solution? A tiny (we're talking lawn-mower-sized) 2-cycle gasoline or diesel engine in the trunk, which runs at a fixed RPM very efficiently powering a small generator to keep the batteries topped off. For extended trips, you just gas up the small tank on the generator, and it's still vastly more fuel/power-efficient for the long-haul than any conventional or hybrid.

Why automakers continue dragging their feet with this "hybrid" drivetrain stuff, I don't know. Both the tree-huggers and the racers win with an all-electric design. The few that have been hand-built have been very expensive (the batteries and the motors being the huge expense obviously), but if a major auto manufacturer did this they would achieve much better economies of scale and drive the component prices down.

__________________
7AT Track Car!
Journal thread / Car setup details