Steven Ambrose and Vishy Karri of the University of Tasmania have created a hybrid scooter which is able to reach a top speed of 80 km/h and uses 35 per cent less fuel than the petrol-only machine and gets 1.7 L/100km when operating in hybrid mode. The vehicle also uses regenerative braking to charge the batteries in operationThe scooter's primary power source is an electric motor, unconventionally mounted on the front wheel, which provides enough power to initiate motion then a standard internal combustion engine, converted to run on renewable ethanol, kicks in seamlessly.
The control system is generic, so we can take it and put it onto a 4WD car and with minor changes it would work, the retro-fitted parts cost just $1500 but could be sourced for as little as $800 in full-scale production.
When not in use, the scooter can be plugged into a household power point to recharge in just 40 minutes.
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