Quote Originally Posted by DarkWing View Post
My idea is an electric vehicle that would win the automotive equivalent to the X-prize. I think it is $300m to the maker of a car that gets better than 100mpg. My idea is a hybrid that has the capability of recovering the energy we loose in breaking. (Dynamic breaks, with the motors in the wheels the breaking energy is turned back into electricy rather than heat.) Put what the batteries will take in charge back to them, the rest store in a short term device. (super uber-capacitors or a flywheel system like they have for really big ups's) Then upon starting, the energy is taken from the short term devices then the batteries. Or, if at rest, the short term devices continue to charge the batteries at their given rate.
You might read up on the TransTeq busses. They're not sexy by most peoples' estimation, but they're an excellent example of hybrid done right. They use an engine smaller than a Prius's to move a fully loaded bus. They charge batteries using the natural gas engine, then drive wheels with electric motors.

They do the clearance thing backwards -- not having an axle allows them to be really low to the ground -- so you can roll right on one with a wheel chair. Then, every time the bus brakes, it dumps the energy back in the battery.

I might be the only one who thinks so, and maybe it is because they're a local company, but I think they're really cool... for a bus.