Not really "FI" but power adder..

[AllTheGoodNamesAreGone]

http://www.sigmaautomotive.com/elect...trocharger.php

i was reading my slashdot.org today.. and came arross that.. its like a ghetto hybrid setup.. seems kinda interesting..

thoughts comments?

[Shane]

gay.

[ReodDai]

Just wait untill my smurf driven turbocharger system is completed. I'll finally put those bastages to work.

[FireStorm]

Q. Is the Electrocharger™ a performance upgrade?
A. Yes, it decreases your 0-60 time by a minimum of 3 seconds and sheds at least 3 seconds off your 1/4 mile time, over stock vehicle performance.

those are quite large claims.. basically according to this i'd get at most 0-60 in 4 sec and 1/4 in the 12s.. if i just bolted it onto a stock v6 fbody

Q. How much does the Electrocharger™ cost?
A. Estimated retail is $2800.00 USD.

for the claimed performance gains that is a really good price....

Q. How much does the system weigh (the Electrocharger™ and SCBP)?
A. ElectrochargerTM = 15 lbs. SCBP = 55 lbs.

a bit on the heavy side but not too bad

i certainly wouldnt call it gay, that is if its legit...

i'll wait till i see dyno numbers or quarter times before i make any final judments

but it certainly looks promising

[HAZ-Matt]

I doubt the "performance" benefits are significant. However, since it is essentially a retrofitable hybrid drive system, it should give you a fair boost in city fuel economy.

[FireStorm]

it does say 3 sec improvment on 0-60 and 1/4 times, of course those are just estimates and they are probably exaggerated a bit

[speedy-v6-camaro]

So what happens if bolt this on my new C6...will I get 0-60 times of 1.1 sec and 1/4 mile times of in the 9s? Not very likely.

[FireStorm]

lol, of course not., i'm just repeating their claims.. like i said, i'll wait till they show some dyno numbers and track times before making a final judgement

[TurboProject]

only aggies could come up with such a thing... ;)

And look at it this way, from a pure energy standpoint: they claim the SCBP provides 600 amps at 48 volts...that's 600*48 = 28800watts = 28.8kilowatts. 1kW = 1.341hp. 28.8*1.341 = 38.6hp. So ~$3k for 38hp...
And there's no way that you're going to get 100% energy conversion from the batteries to mechanical energy to the motor...
If you want 40 hp, I'd say p&p and get a cam...and don't add an extra 70lbs to your car...those are my purely logical reasons anyway...my personal reason is that it's dumb [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[ September 03, 2004, 02:11 AM: Message edited by: TurboProject ]

[HAZ-Matt]

Cam won't increase your fuel economy though.

[V6Bob]

[stupid post deleted}

[ September 03, 2004, 09:28 PM: Message edited by: V6Bob ]

[FireStorm]

did you read their web site?

http://www.sigmaautomotive.com/elect...rocharger3.php

the charger assists the engine during acceleration, normal or not,

acceleration is when a car is least efficient so when there is an electric motor helping the crankshaft along it will increase fuel economy

the electrocharger also recovers energy from braking to charge the battery

as for the person who figured the horsepower? good call, not that much

one thing you forgot to mention was the increased torque.. electric motors have LOTS of torque

[V6Bob]

My bad. I thought this was the electric supercharger I've seen. I still have my doubts that retrofitting an electric motor to a conventional car will improve fuel economy much.

"The key to a hybrid car is that the gasoline engine can be much smaller than the one in a conventional car and therefore more efficient."

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/hybrid-car.htm

[HAZ-Matt]

I agree, but then again it depends on what kind of car you are retrofitting the electrocharger to. Ideally, they would need to offer different electric motors for different displacement motors, and not just different gear setups.

BTW, electric motor torque at a constant voltage decreases as rpm's increase.

[AllTheGoodNamesAreGone]

yeah, the peorfmrance gains are typos or BS IMHO..

however I worked on Umiversity of marylands hybrid explorer last semester.. so i am kinda into it..

its a neat design/idea.. its obviously not going to be as efficent as a true hybrid drive train.. however all the fundamentals are there..

from waht i udnerstand when they had the national compition at ford at the begining of summer they had the system beaing tested on a few different cars..

i dident get to go/see it though.. because i dident acctualy work on the truck.. i just did some work on the computers/programming/ and electronics in the explorer..