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Hybrid Car PlansThe plans to build the Town Car are for a 100 MPG hybrid vehicle based on a VW Beetle chassis, which has been switched to electric power and fitted with an on-board generator powered by a 3 kW, single-cylinder, industrial engine. A 72 volt, 6 kW Baldor dc motor mounts directly to the VW transaxle using an adaptor plate. All gears, including reverse, are operable. Built according to the purchasable plans, Town Car has top speed of 55 mph, a battery-only range of 60 miles, and a genset-assisted range of 100 miles. With the genset operating, the fuel economy at 35 mph is 100 mpg. Town Car was featured in Mechanix Illustrated magazine in February 1981, and was used as a background vehicle in the movie Total Recall. You can purchase the plans for this vehicle at rqriley.com/t-car.html#order . The same company has another car under development, of which plans are available for purchase soon, called The XR-3 Hybrid (rqriley.com/xr3.htm), which is a three wheeled car. XR-3 Hybrid is a two-passenger plug-in hybrid that achieves 125 mpg on diesel power alone, 225 mpg on combined diesel and electric power, and performance similar to a conventional automobile.
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