XR3: 225 mpg hybrid car kit

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By Marc de Vinck
Posted 2008/08/16 @ 12:21 pm
Category Energy

I can’t say that I am a big fan of the looks of this car, but the 225 miles per gallon is hard to beat. The car has an electric rear drive system with a Kubota diesel system when the lithium batteries run out. Apparently you will be able to purchase an XR3 kit soon. There are a lot more pictures on the website, including the build process.

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5 Responses to XR3: 225 mpg hybrid car kit

ellisgl.myopenid.com on August 16th, 2008 at 6:29 pm said:

The word “tweaks” was in the “Article”.

My sugguestions
1.) The article says “Fiber glass”, I would change that to carbon fiber.

2.) Get rid of the neat looking rims, and use a cover that would make it a little bit more aerodynamic.

3.) Solar panels on the car to help with recharge.

4.) Get rid of the exterior mirrors and use camera – more aerodynamic advantage

5.) Bring the back further to make a smaller point.

6.) Make a “golf ball” pitted under carriage.

7.) Any part made of Iron or Steal that can be replace with a lighter material would be replaced. Aluminum, Titanium , etc..

The would what I would do first to increase my millage.

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hammerthumb on August 17th, 2008 at 7:54 am said:

Hi,

With regards to #2 would covering the wheels cause issues with brake cooling?

With regards to #7 carbon fiber can replace a lot of the steel in a vehicle. There is a question in my mind about safety. Steel will bend and twist in an impact. Carbon fiber will de-laminate and shatter. When properly designed both do well at converting the impact energy to heat before complete failure. However, in a non-racing environment I wonder about the real world efficacy of the carbon fiber to protect the occupants who are not wearing Nomex suits, helmets and 5 point harnesses. Bring on the crash test dummies I say!

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ellisgl.myopenid.com on August 17th, 2008 at 7:49 pm said:

You could also use ceramic break pads, with a rotor that is slotted, cross drilled (or dimple drilled) and vented.

Well, if he did it right – i didn’t see if he did do this – you would have a cage of some sort around the cab. The reason I said carbon fiber was to make it a tad bit lighter. Lighter car = less energy to move = MPG boost. Of course it’s probably a lot less of an MPG boost than it would take to justify the cost.

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Monk on August 18th, 2008 at 10:10 am said:

I have purchased the plans for this, fiberglass is used due to cost. This is meant to be built in a home garage, so things are kept simple. Design changes can be made by the builder.

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Ade on August 20th, 2008 at 4:51 am said:

Bad choice of nomenclature. In the UK the XR3 was Ford’s underpowered, lack-lustre answer to the Golf GTi in the 80s.

The XR3i was a slight improvement but the term XR3 still conjures up images of reverse baseball-hatted bad boyz.

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