Technical Suggestions - To convert Fiat Punto Evo Diesel to Hybrid

[Praveen8840]

Hi All,

Thinking to consider converting my Fiat punto evo Diesel vehicle (almost 9yrs old) to Hybrid as my masters project.

Additionally need to add and work on - Battery pack, Motor, Coupling (Engine/Motor power to axle/wheels), charge battery when runs on gas and logic to switch between gas, battery mode based on battery pack SoC and power requirements during the drive.

Looking forward to and appreciate your suggestions in this regard.

Thank you

 

[The Panda Nut]

Converting to hybrid sounds like a VERY difficult idea. Converting to electric is one thing but trying to go half way sounds hard. You will need to start to look at how such things work on a manufactured vehicle. Its not something I would contemplate. I have a Panda 4x4 and I have started to think about the possibility of an electric conversion to the rear axle while retaining the petrol power to the front. There are a large number of things that work against even this such as how to install basic controls and how to power the brake assistance and steering just for starters.

 

[AndyRKett]

As its for a masters We can assume that you are fairly technically proficient
However there are multiple systems at play Electric mechanical and software you’ll need to be pretty good at not only designing these things but if you are actually planning then take that off the drawing board, you’d need to be pretty handy with tools and big place to do the work.

Hybrid comes in many forms now, there is
. Mild Hybrid which usually has a motor On a drive belt giving some relief to the engine but not actually powering the car under electric power only. This would be “relatively” easy to do.

.Normal hybrid which like an old Prius needs a decent battery and motor joined to the mechanical output of the engine, usually this is done by putting the motor in the gearbox of the car. You could source a Prius gear box but then Toyota are doing the work for you.

.plug in hybrid, all the above but there is also an additional battery charger and plug in socket.

Mild hybrid is probably on paper too easy. It is nothing more than a washing machine motor and a small battery that you can turn on at low speeds to put some extra ooph into the engine. Usually only provides a few extra hp, taking some load off the engine. Comes in anything between 12 - 72V systems and the battery is usually very small.

a normal hybrid you need to build the mechanics of the gearbox with the motor or else find some other way of getting the power of the motor onto the road.
One such way would be to some how separately drive the back wheels with a motor connected to a differential. one way to achieve this could be by bastardising the rear beam of a Panda 4x4 and fitting it to parts of the Punto beam axle so you can use the rear wheel drive Set up of the panda, you could look for 500x 4x4 parts or maybe some other small 4wd car that uses a torsion beam design.

You will need some software that can talk to the car via the Canbus, and know the speed of the car, revs, estimate a rough idea of engine load and then feather in the electric motor so that you don’t feel a jarring of the motor coming in at full torque or the motor dragging and pulling back the internal combustion engine. It’s a find balance and getting the software working will require a good idea of canbus protocols and electrical engineering, you’ll need to brush up on your electromechanical mathematics

if you want to make it a plug in hybrid then you’ll have to start learning the communication protocols around charging sockets.

This is going to all require the design of a pretty complex and sophisticated computer to put it all together and make it work. something that can cope with being in a car which is tough on electronics, and also something that is robust enough to cope with many many cycles on and off, high current handling and extremes of temperature.

Cool project but loads to think about and quite a lot of different thinks to consider.

I am assuming if it is for a master’s you may not actually have to produce the finished car but design the whole thing.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Have you had any more thoughts on moving this on, I would be very interested in following your work.

 

[GrandePunto PL]

Is this a joke?
You will never be a real scientist. Your approach to the topic is absolutely lame, not professional.
Every scientific paper has references to the other work (like real paper books).
Therefore you start your research by actually reading existing publications (I bet there are books about cars, engines, etc., including more modern stuff...like Hybrids and electric cars), you study/investigate commercial vehicles design. You do not start lame threads on forums for sure.
This type of project is very difficult to pull-off. It's more like PhD level (but PhD requires your own solutions, not just copying factory setup).
You must be the top dog (one percenter) in your class/year at university, with practical hands-on DIY (advanced) experience in both mechanics and electronics, to do this (outsourcing all the real physical work is a cheating, your "Masters" degree will be fake, not earned).

PS
What's the procedure in India? Do you have like a guide/patron, PhD or Professor helping you and judging your progress? Show this thread to him, he will be disapointed.

 

[Greasytrucker]

Is this a joke?
You will never be a real scientist. Your approach to the topic is absolutely lame, not professional.
Every scientific paper has references to the other work (like real paper books).
Therefore you start your research by actually reading existing publications (I bet there are books about cars, engines, etc., including more modern stuff...like Hybrids and electric cars), you study/investigate commercial vehicles design. You do not start lame threads on forums for sure.
This type of project is very difficult to pull-off. It's more like PhD level (but PhD requires your own solutions, not just copying factory setup).
You must be the top dog (one percenter) in your class/year at university, with practical hands-on DIY (advanced) experience in both mechanics and electronics, to do this (outsourcing all the real physical work is a cheating, your "Masters" degree will be fake, not earned).

PS
What's the procedure in India? Do you have like a guide/patron, PhD or Professor helping you and judging your progress? Show this thread to him, he will be disapointed.

Shouldn’t this be in the “What’s made you grumpy today” thread???

 

[The Panda Nut]

Shouldn’t this be in the “What’s made you grumpy today” thread???

or filed under unecessarily curt. We all start out on such things wgen young and ideakistic, may be as one of a range of options when deciding what to do as a project. I cant see the need for this sort of aggressive sounding reply especially as we know nothing about the background from the OP.

 

[AndyRKett]

Shouldn’t this be in the “What’s made you grumpy today” thread???

or filed under unecessarily curt. We all start out on such things wgen young and ideakistic, may be as one of a range of options when deciding what to do as a project. I cant see the need for this sort of aggressive sounding reply especially as we know nothing about the background from the OP.

Sadly this is a pretty common level of reply from this member.