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Message text written by Dave Dahlgren
"I think you are forgetting that when you generate the electricity there
are losses that are fairly large and then the electric motor has more
losses.. I do not see the gain here. You have added 2 more losses to
the system.. The driver is most times the tallest thing in the car so
the aero gain might be small if at all. The transmissions do not use as
much power as the electrical losses would probably be.. My opinion
anyway
Dave Dahlgren
"
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Dave's on the mark here. While working at the Vehicle Research Institute at
Western Washington University we found out that you're better off using I/C
with a transmission. The power loses are least with a modern trans with
straight cut gears and "good" oil. We used a lot of motorcycle
transmissions. Tended to overpower them, but if you didn't make jackrabbit
starts with a heavy car you were OK for a few thousand miles!
Bruce A. Whiting, PhD, Fiat racer and former Lab Rat
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