Foogar says

I’ve read a lot about folks converting their cars to electric and most seem to be limited to around 40 miles per charge.  This is OK for most folks but I happen to drive more than that one way to and from work.  I’d have to find a way to build a hybrid system because with today’s technology all electric just isn’t going to work for me.

The idea hit me while watching Modern Marvels one night.  Very large dump trucks have a massive diesel generator powering electric motors for the wheels.  Why couldn’t a similar system be used to provide power to push a car along?  Running some ideal data through excel shows a system using the Honda EU3000iSA (with no losses mind you, ideal data and all) getting around 350mpg.  This is based on the claim it ”Runs up to 20 hours on 3.4 gals of fuel” and a vehicle traveling @60 mph.  Of course the world isn’t perfect, you’ll have your rolling resistance, wind resistance, losses through the drive train, etc..

The problem comes when you try to find a motor that’ll work on 120VAC and have enough torque to push a car along the road.  There is another generator from Honda, the EU6500iSA, that will output 240VAC but it’s 100lbs heavier and about half as fuel efficient.  There may be other good generators out there but this series is known for being quiet so it wouldn’t make your car sound like a hyperactive two-stroke.

If you have anything to add feel free to post a reply, I’m sure if I can think of this someone else has too and a sharing of ideas could help anyone that’s interested in trying this out.  Share what works as well as what doesn’t, and if you know of a place where this is already being discussed drop a link in here.