Topic: The first hybrid electric in New Zealand 1976

[piersdad]

                                           The first hybrid in New Zealand

This was a space framed sports car that had a VW rear end gear box.
The 120 volts 120 amp  hour  batteries were in a central box section running the length of the car.
The front suspension was from a Morris minor car.
With a bit of engineering I managed to get the main drive shaft to extend out the forward end of the gear box and make the gear shift work another way.
A 20 hp electric motor was coupled to this shaft.
The V W petrol motor now was able to power the car via the clutch or with the clutch disengaged the electric motor could drive the car.
On hills when needing a bit more power both motors could be used for power and on down hills the clutch would be disengaged with a manual lever (hand brake) and the electric motor acted as a brake and charged the batteries.
 Every thing was manually worked so it was up to the driver as to what mode was most suitable to cruise at the time.
  When on occasions the petrol  ran out  before I got to a station I would cruise in on electrics and tell the attendant that I had run dry some miles ago and when asked how I got here I would point to the 1500 lbs of batteries and the 20 hp motor and say
 “Just used the starter motor see”
On one occasion I had to demonstrate at a show the car.
I drove it to the show grounds using the V W motor and parked in front of the grand stand.
To the audience it was just another formula V sports car.
However 2 bolts and an unclipping of the electric ignition and fuel the V W motor sat uncoupled on a small stand.
 Imagine the surprise of the crowd when the apparent  formula V suddenly shot forward with a shower of grass behind and leaving its motor sitting on  a stand  on the  grass and not a sound as well.

A few minutes later I was able to demonstrate the cars performance to the public with a couple of runs around the race track.

 I had many pleasurable mile with this car  till I designed and built the conzept car with my friend C Horsfall


 befor finished

at a show in auckland nz
the conzept electriccar




the above car was all electric   and the dimensions below are from
a sketch i made