Overview

Interested in hybrid and electric cars - and other forms of alternative propulsion? This is the book for you!In Section 1 you'll find a detailed discussion of the different forms of motive power for cars - from turbines to hybrids, from human powered to fuel cell. Which is best now - and which is likely to be best in the near future?In Section 2 lots of different electric and hybrid cars are tested - from the mega-dollar Lexus LS600hL to a home-converted electric Hyundai, from driving a Prius across half of Australia to sampling one of the most innovative of hybrid cars ever made, the original Honda Insight. Finally, Section 3 covers a bunch of modifications that the author has carried out on hybrid cars. From the very easy - adding a pressurised cool-air intake for the engine, to the complex - turbocharging a Toyota Prius.... and lots in between. Along the way you'll find a host of interesting breakout boxes, covering material as diverse as the best way of calculating vehicle fuel efficiency, design questions for human powered vehicles, aerodynamic modification of vehicles - and even, what it was like to drive an electric car on the moon! Truly something for every electric and hybrid car enthusiast...

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9781483937366

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Julian Edgar started his working life freelancing for photography magazines. He then worked as a secondary school teacher for eight years, teaching humanities, before leaving teaching and becoming a full-time automotive writer. He edited a national Australian automotive print magazine before becoming editor of AutoSpeed, an online car magazine. Along the way he wrote extensively for Silicon Chip, an electronics hobbyist magazine, while contributing articles to publications in Australia, the UK and the US. He has owned cars with two, three, four, five, six and eight cylinder engines; diesel, petrol and hybrid petrol/electric drivelines; front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive configurations; and cars with single turbos, twin turbos and superchargers. He has driven a wide variety of electric and hybrid cars, including testing many new hybrid cars as an automotive journalist. He has extensively modified a Toyota Prius (including fitting in different iterations a supercharger and then a turbocharger), owns a first generation Honda Insight, and has designed and built his own human-powered vehicles. Julian lives in a hamlet 80 kilometres north of Canberra, Australia. He spends much of the week playing in his home workshop - for the rest of the time, he trains government Public Servants in high level writing skills. Other books by the author: 21st Century Performance, Clockwork Media, 2000 High Performance Electronics for Cars, Silicon Chip Publications, 2004 (co-authored with John Clarke) Amateur Car Aerodynamics Sourcebook, CreateSpace, 2013 Inventors and Amateur Engineers Sourcebook, CreateSpace, 2013 Home Workshop Sourcebook, CreateSpace, 2013

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