Zoomi Life

If you have a compact car that you wish was a hybrid-electric like the Prius, but don’t have the money to shell out for a new hybrid, Ulrik Poulsen has a solution for you. He calls it the Poulsen Hybrid car conversion kit. Mighty creative for a Dutchman.

The Kit will work on any car with 15” wheels (or larger) and can propel any small car, such as a Corolla, Civic, or similar. The idea is sound and, surprisingly, hasn’t already been thought of until now.

Basically, most compact cars require only about 10-15 horsepower to propel themselves along on fairly level roads at 60mph.  This accounts for about 70-80% of our normal driving, since less speed requires even less horsepower. Most of our car’s strength is used to start out, not drive along. So why not just use the gas engine to get going and go electric from there?

That’s Poulsen’s idea in a nutshell. So he set about figuring out how to build a system that could be added to most any car to fulfill this role. You guessed it, he got the Poulsen Hybrid Car Conversion Kit as a result.

The kit can be mounted on either front or rear wheels (both front or both rear) and is usually mounted on the wheels not powered by the car’s motor. The motors look like thick hubcaps that fit over the top of the wheels and have an arm coming forward, around the tire, to connect to the frame. Wiring connects the motors to battery packs (your choice, any rechargeable vehicle battery will do if it’s powerful enough) that are usually mounted in the trunk of the car.

The batteries are tied into the vehicle’s electrical system with a controller so that the engine’s power output from the alternator can charge them as it does your car’s normal battery. An optional setup can be tied into your brake pedal (assuming it’s a modern electronic impulse rather than manual) to utilize the motors’ regenerative braking capabilities.

The electric motors then give power boosts to the motor, taking strain from it and allowing it to run at lower RPMs (thus using less gasoline). The motors don’t completely take over the car’s operation, but instead augment it. They kick in when the car is moving at between 15 and 60 miles per hour. This can boost your gas mileage by almost half, so a car getting 30mpg would see up to 55mpg with a Paulsen Kit on board.

The Kits require no government approvals because they do not alter braking, steering, suspension, or safety systems. Most car manufacturers, however, will have an issue with you installing this without their authorized dealer’s shop being involved. That’s to resolve liability issues. Of course, if you don’t care about that, you can install it yourself, but if you’re in a wreck, you might wish you hadn’t when Susie SueHappy comes after you.

You can get one, installed, for about $4,550USD using lead acid batteries or for about $8,600 with lithium-ion batteries. The battery bank isn’t large, however, and takes up only about 20% of your average-sized trunk, since the motors don’t completely drive the car.

Poulsen plans to feature the Kit in the upcoming Automotive X Prize (AXP) alongside other cars we’ve featured like Neil Young’s LincVolt. The kits will be available starting in early 2009 in most major world markets.

So get to it, Bubba! Let’s Prius up the Ford!

Photo Credit: Jim Motavalli/The Daily Green