A research team at the Tennessee Tech University and Middle Tennessee State University has developed a Plug-in Hybrid Retrofit Kit that allows car owners to convert their regular cars to a hybrid vehicle by retrofitting them with a small electrical system that is easily mounted in the space between the electrical system and the inside diameter of the rear wheel of most cars.
The fuel usage will be reduced due to this amazing invention that delivers an extra 10 to 20 horsepower per wheel. In short time this system will be on the market and it will exempt us from replacing our internal combustion powered vehicles.
“It gives you a virtual downgrade,” said inventor Charles Perry, a former IBM engineer who holds the Russell Chair of Manufacturing Excellence at MTSU. “The 15 horsepower that used to be provided by your engine is now provided by this.”
With 80 percent of Americans driving an average of 28 miles per day in their vehicles, Perry said the wheel hub motor (in hybrid mode) would double drivers’ gas mileage, and that it mainly would be an around-town function, not for highway driving. He said once it becomes mass-produced, the target consumer installation cost would be $3,000 to $5,000.
[Source: BusinessJournal]
