Is there a variable speed electric motor with enough horse power and torque that would run on 110 volts to put in a small car in place of the engine? I was thinking of using a generator to power it. This would change mpg to hours per gallon if the electric motor wasn't too expensive. It would be easy to mount to a standard transmission.
Both AC and DC motors can be variable speed. Variable speed and variable torque. If you use an AC motor, your looking at about 10 to 12 thousand dollars for the motor, 3 thousand for a controller or it, an a big enough generator would run another 10 thousand. And because the weight of all this you'll need a permit like a 18 wheeler to use the roads, a few more thousand. You should get by with around 100 thousand
There's a wacky photo of a car with a generator on top of the trunk powering a home air conditioner strapped to one of the windows. Must have been living in the car.
It is more fuel efficient to just connect the gas engine running the generator to the wheels.
