Increase IMA performance

[Jwarian]

Most likely, I get 50 on the hwy without cruise control in sport.
Econ and cruise control yield 42.
6spd

[MaxMp]

Originally Posted by SecondWind

MaxMp, I notice my car will use 2-3 "blue bars" of boost, even at highway speeds. (We have some short, but steep hills in this area.) However, it never goes below 3 bars of charge, and the boost tapers off quickly. What if a person got hold of a battery pack out of a wreck, and simply wired the whole thing, controllers and all, in parallel to the heavy wires going to the elec motor. Think this would double the capacity going up hills?

You're correct about battery discharging and giving you boost even at cruising speeds. It only does that when the computer detects an increase throttle/accelerator pedal pressure. If you keep your foot on the accelerator pedal at the same level/pressure you won't get any assist from the electric motor. And that's something, I'm interested in changing how the computer manages assist, ultimately having the computer periodically have IMA assist on trips at high way speeds.

Assuming the design of those battery packs are similar to your conventional laptop batteries, you don't need that extra controller. However, it's still not easy to parallel the battery packs together. As both battery packs uses power management chips that monitor the state of each individual cells and puts out a signal of the condition and state of the individual cells. More sophisticated chips will also monitor temperatures and fail safe features to prevent battery fire or explosion. If only it's as simple as your A2/A3 batteries, you can hook them up in parallel and double your capacity. Sadly, it requires a little more work than that. It's probably easier to disregard one battery packs management system and just simply parallel out the individual cells of the two battery packs with the addition of a comparator chip to compare temps from each pack for proper charging/discharging. This may achieve your double capacity expectations. But it won't improve the performance of that electric motor. Because the motor itself is static, its load and performance only decreases with heat build up. Heat goes up, resistance in the motors winding goes up, thus, less current flows giving you less power on that motor. Improving its performance requires stepping up the inverter output anywhere between 10-35%, exceeding current 100V rating.

As for the lithium battery, it has double or even quadruple the capacity of NiMH batteries compare to size. It's also lighter then our 100lb invisible passenger.lol But like I point it early, it does not improve performance of assist/boost. You just simply have more juice to run on and requires longer braking to even charge it up depending on it's capacity. That's the downside.

Ideally, I would like a more powerful electric motor.=]

[bheinen74]

When will someone develop a higher output direct swap electric motor assist, with HUGE power, and also develop the higher capacity battery for it, for the CR-Z?


something like on White Zombie
White Zombie Datsun 1200 Electric drag car - YouTube
White Zombie electric car - Run 2: 10.400 @ 117.21 - PIR 2010/07/30 - YouTube

[MaxMp]

No one is... A direct swap requires keeping to the same size or reasonable size. The motor we have on our Zs are incredibly thin, if one can simply couple another piece to it it's like another extra +13 HP. Flip side, you have twice the drag your electric motors are having on the gas engine. It actually reduces your gas engine performance. That's one of the reasons why Honda can not compete with Toyota's fuel economy because of engine drag inefficiencies. For a much more powerful motor, the mechanical links between gas and electric engine need to be redesign and perhaps the addition of an alternator.

2nd, thought, if someone rewinds the wire wounding inside the motor with thicker gauge ratings. Over charging it in it's current setup maybe the way to go. =]

[evilgeniustodd]

Originally Posted by MaxMp

And that's something, I'm interested in changing how the computer manages assist, ultimately having the computer periodically have IMA assist on trips at high way speeds.

To what end? It would certainly improve your instant mpg rating. But sooner or later the car has to recharge those batteries. That energy has to come from the gasoline engine. There is a rather significant amount of loss running the engine to charge the batteries then discharging them again into the electric motor. Rather than just simply using the energy from the gasoline engine to run the wheels directly.

Wayne Gerdes was pretty explicit. To get the most MPG out of the CR-Z you have to keep it out of assist, not use it more.

[bheinen74]

I don't even think the assist helps any mpg at all really. I would rather just have gas only, shave the weight of the ima and battery and be done. In fact, when the battery pack goes bad, I will likey try just that, make this a non hybrid gas only car, like my old crx is.

[evilgeniustodd]

Originally Posted by bheinen74

I don't even think the assist helps any mpg at all really. I would rather just have gas only, shave the weight of the ima and battery and be done. In fact, when the battery pack goes bad, I will likey try just that, make this a non hybrid gas only car, like my old crx is.

Removing the IMA battery and controller seems to be a very straight forward procedure. But the ima motor does triple duty assist/starter/generator. Perhaps just trade in the drivetrain/controllers from a donor Fit?

[OneFitZ]

Originally Posted by bheinen74

I don't even think the assist helps any mpg at all really. I would rather just have gas only, shave the weight of the ima and battery and be done. In fact, when the battery pack goes bad, I will likey try just that, make this a non hybrid gas only car, like my old crx is.

The car is gonna be slow as molasses then. Even with the decrease in weight, you just lost a crap ton of instantaneous torque.

[corbygray528]

Originally Posted by OneFitZ

The car is gonna be slow as molasses then. Even with the decrease in weight, you just lost a crap ton of instantaneous torque.

This. So much this.

[Jwarian]

I think slapping a second electric motor is the way to go, just like with old Rx-7s you can just throw another on the end.

An extra 13 and 40tq with a turbo would make this super efficient supposing you got lithium too.

300 hp and 40 mpg, and more low end than a v8. Ok. Deal