Almost any car can be transformed into a hybrid

Almost any car can be transformed into a hybrid

Students from Middle Tennessee University have created a system that, for about $ 3,000, is capable of transforming any car into a half electric and half combustion model

  A research team at Middle Tennessee University (MTSU) has created a system capable of converting almost any car into a hybrid for about $ 3,000. To achieve this, they have manufactured a pair of electric motors that can be incorporated in the rear wheels and that allow the car to be driven up to 65 kilometers per hour. These work together with the conventional engine of the vehicle, and reduce their fuel consumption.

   To test their technology they have reconverted a 1994 Honda Accord automatic transmission into a hybrid model. They could have done it, explain the scientists, with almost any vehicle. Thanks to the two electric motors, one in each rear wheel and some modifications in the pedals, the car can now circulate thanks to the energy of its batteries for more than 50 kilometers without the need to use gasoline. When the two propulsion systems are combined, the fuel savings can be 50% or more.

Without mechanical changes

One of the advantages of the system proposed by the researchers of the MTSU is that the modifications that must be made to the car are minimal. The engines spin the wheels directly, and there is no need to change the transmission, the brakes, or the suspensions. "The idea was to demonstrate the feasibility of adding electric motors to the rear axle of a car without changing the brakes, bearings or any mechanical component," explained Charles Perry, who runs the project in 2012.

The system to transform conventional vehicles into hybrid cars is, at the moment, nothing more than a prototype. Even so, the MTSU has reached an agreement with the Turkish university Meliksah to advance a project "that is ready for it to acquire the car manufacturers around the world." Turkey is one of the countries in the world with the most expensive oil, and its government "is interested in investing in saving technologies," said Paul Martin, one of the instigators of the agreement. If 10% of Turkish vehicles are adapted with this technology, they explain, they could save up to 4 billion dollars a year in fuel.