Cars that would look cool souped up MM style

[The Toecutter]

Want durability? An electric motor will last over 500,000 miles, needs no tune ups, no servicing, no oil changes, and only has one rotating part. Not only that, but with a wind and solar generator, you could let the environment make fuel for the car when not in use...





But in the wasteland, you'd want range. Lots of range, like Mad Max's interceptor with its two huge tanks of juice. Sure, you might have infinite fuel as an electric with the ability to produce it when you run out(over the course of 2-3 days), but even with the best lithium batteries, range would be about 500 miles, tops. When I'm talking about range, I mean 2,000+ miles!





Best of both worlds would be a diesel-electric hybrid.





Why diesel for the secondary propulsion? Greater efficiency, and it is possible to make biodiesel with no petroleum input. A post apocalyptic world without gas would mandate that you'd be able to make your own fuel, or get it from people that could(for a hefty price in that case).





Say, maybe a late 1980s Chevy S10 pickup as our base, we want a vehicle that isn't too large, but has sufficient ride height and low initial weight while a high gross vehicle weight rating to handle a significant weight increase.





First place to start would be the body. Modify it for both efficiency, armor, and killing capability, as all three are important in the wasteland with fuel precious, guns many, and others willing to kill you for your wheels and fuel. Covered rear wheel wells, full smooth underbelly, shaved door handles, and tapered elliptoid bed cover with a 6:1 finess ratio and prematurely cut off where applicable to drastically improve aerodynamics and cut down on energy consumption at speed. Remove the stock bumpers, front and rear, you won't be needing them. On the front, full battering ram with spikes, armor all over the truck but flush with the body(has to be flush with the body to cut down on turbulence generated, or the vehicle will be inefficient), bulletproof lexan windows and windshield, and front machine guns that could be deployed but would remain concealed when not in use(again for aerodynamic cleanliness. When mowing down marauders with your machine guns, fuel efficiency will no longer be the primary concern). Adjust the ride height to be 2 inches higher than stock, you won't be running over other vehicles(well, maybe motorcycles), but you will need to worry about road conditions, whether they will be riddled with holes or even usable. It will be quite an ugly piece of work, if not nerdy looking, but make no mistake, it will be able to mow down bikers and make quick work of marauding musclecar drivers like nobody's business, while having the aerodynamic efficiency of a Toyota Prius. Drag coefficient would be about .26 or .27, even with the battering ram and armor.





Now the next step, what tires should be used? Studded tires are anything but low rolling resistance and energy efficient, but in the wasteland they will be a necessity. They will cause efficiency to suffer quite a bit, but will be more than worth it. You'll need the traction and durability, and skinny eco tires just won't offer that.





Replace the transmission, drive shaft, and differential. You're going to be putting a lot of electric power into this beast and making gobs of torque. A Ford 9" rear end with Detroit locker would be a must. Very tall gear ratios will be needed. The particular electric motor of choice will govern at 4,500 rpm. This truck will be geared for 180 mph with the motor spinning at about 2,000 rpm in top gear(about the rpm where the peak power will be produced), but have some gear ratios on the midget end for high efficiency at 70-80 mph cruising speeds and 100 mph flee speeds, in which the electric motor will be turning at about 3,800 rpm and 4,500 rpm at 70 mph and 100 mph respectively. There will also be one gear for 150 mph at the 4,500 rpm redline.





The gas engine would be removed and an electric motor, perhaps a Netgain WarP 11", mounted in its place, mated to the transmission with an aluminum adaptor plate. This 11" motor would be controlled by a Cafe Electric Zilla 2k controller, capable of transferring over 600 KW of power from batteries to motor! But in reality, the motor will only produce about 200 KW of peak power due to back EMF losses, brush losses, stator losses, core losses, copper losses, ect and battery limitations of the selected battery pack.





Mount a small diesel engine, maybe an early 90s VW Jetta turbodiesel engine capable of about 60 kW of power, in the rear, along with a large number of lead acid batteries, about 900 pounds of sealed lead acid batteries, on the truck bed and a 50 gallon diesel tank under the truck bed. You won't need much diesel engine, as with drastically reduced aerodynamic drag from the body modifications, 60 kW would be enough to take you 100-110 mph and cruise there for long distances. For short bursts into the 150+ mph territory, you can rely on the powerful electric motor and batteries which would last you 4 or 5 miles at that speed to get away from any pursuers, double that distance to 10 miles with the diesel generator cranking full blast. You probably won't need to bridge a farther distance than that as you slow back down to 100-110 mph or so.





As for the aforementioned batteries, they would not be only in the truck bed, but some will also in the engine compartment where the electric motor will also rest. You'll be freeing up a lot of room with the removal of the orignal gas engine! Say, a 348V battery pack of 29 Exide Orbital sealed deep cycle AGM batteries connected in series. Each weighs about 41 pounds. 22 in the truck bed, seven up front. Have the controller limit the motor voltage to 192V and motor amps to 2,000 amps. Limit the current draw from the batteries to 2,000 amps. At 2000 amps draw, the battery pack would sag to about 250V. This is 500 KW from the batteries. The motor is about 50% efficient at 2,000 amps(85% efficient at more sane power levels), so with the 2,000 amp controller and this motor and these batteries, you will get about 250 KW to the motor, or 340 horsepower at the flywheel.





This may not seem like much, until you realize that this electric motor will make its peak torque at 0 rpm. One electric horsepower will provide the potency of about 1.4 gas IC horsepower as far as acceleration is concerned, due to the torque characteristics of an electric motor. And this peak torque will be about 1,000 lb-ft up until approxamately 1,800 rpm. That is where peak power will be made, 340 horsepower or thereabouts. At 2,500 rpm, you might see 300 horsepower, 3,000 rpm about 250 horses, 3,500 rpm about 220 horses, 4,000 rpm about 200 horses, 4,500 rpm 170 horses or so. Govern the motor to 4,500 rpm.





With a .27 drag coefficient and about a 23 square foot frontal area, 170 horsepower will take you to that 150 mph at redline. It will also allow just under 340 horsepower to take you to 180 mph with the monster tall gear set for that at 2,000 rpm.





For storage space, there will be some places in the rear where the generator, batteries, and diesel tank are not occupying. Perfect place to store food, water, spare tires, a small portable 1 KW wind generator, and a 500W array of solar panels. Guns and ammunition can be stored up front with the passenger seat removed, right where you want it.





Finally, we need the finishing touch, a bitchin paintjob. I say paint the truck flat out charcoal black. It would look like death everytime someone came near it.





So what would you have after building such a monstrousity?





It would weigh about 5,000 pounds fully loaded with fuel and supplies, and have about a .26-.27 drag coefficient. Heavy, ugly, armed, but efficient.





Performance? 0-60 mph in the high 4 second region, 1/4 mile drag in the high 12, low 13 second region at 100 mph, top speed around 180 mph in the highest gear, 150-ish in the next highest gear.





Efficiency and range? From the batteries, 70 mph would consume about 400 wh/mile. With the diesel generator running and the truck at a steady 70 mph, it would achieve about 40-50 mpg. Turn the diesel generator off(or run out of diesel), and the truck will be able to go about 25-30 miles on a full battery charge at that speed. At 150 mph, range would be more like 4-5 miles without the generator on, 10 with it running full blast. The generator would have enough punch to keep the truck running at a steady 100-110 mph without depleting the batteries, good enough for fleeing marauders over long distances. At that speed, fuel economy of the generator and electric motor combination will sink to about 25 mpg. With a 50 gallon tank, that's still 1,250 miles range at 100-110 mph. At normal 70 mph speeds, you'd have a 2,000-2,500 mile range! More than enough to let you travel some good distance in the wasteland, damn near enough to go coast to coast on one tank.





All electric range would be short, but as an emergency measure, if you run out of diesel(or biodiesel), it's time to set up the wind generators and solar panels to recharge the batteries when you run out. Park the truck away from the roads, and let the wind generator and panels do their magic, hoping someone doesn't pass by to kill you and steal everything. Within about 3 days, you will be recharged, ready to go another 25-30 miles at 70 mph, or perhaps 40-50 miles at 50 mph, or 4-5 miles at 150 mph if you really need to haul ass and someone decides to chase you. Find a place to hide, and cover your truck like Max did the BoB, and sit it out...





Doing this over and over should get you to some place where you can trade what you've scavenged for fuel within a month at most, as you will have easily travelled 400 miles under this method by then. Sure as hell beats walking, and to boot, you get to carry all your gear.





How much would all this cost? $30-40k or so, unless you swap the lead acid batteries for an equivalent weight in lithiums that would give you 400-500 miles all electric range, in which price would soar to about $150k...





Would this not be a bad ass vehicle for the wastelands or what? Definately would make a killer Mad Max inspired vehicle for a world with no gas.

[Big Bopper Bart]

open desert all ya need is a sail and a frame with 4 wheels thats how i think MM4 will be Also the lincoln you mentioned would suck as they have an airbag sus. don;t they or for some reason thier ass ends squat after a few years on the road

[Quite-Riot]

i dount think sealed batteries are a good idea in the desert as they would lose water with the high heat-i would go with a low maintenance battery with screw in caps so water could be added as nessersary,but yes that would make a great wasteland vehicle.Big Bopper Bart you are right about the air bag suspen but there is a coil conversion kit witch would fix that issue,plus all 88+ have the high output 5.0L V8,put on some raming bumpers,2.5"exhaust,a few skulls here and there and a primer gray paint job and you have one mean ride.would hold its own on the road IMO.

[OverheadCam]

use a cougar XR7 with the Landau style flipper light covers as a MM2 Landau clone.

[OverheadCam]

"i don;t know why people bag on the new goats and Monaros.i seen a 05 Goat the other day,it was black ,had the 68-70 style hood scoops and the true dual exhaust and looked bad ass.the assholes at GM North America keep f**king up and also act lazy ,THATS why the uuber kewl GTO concept car was nenver made and Bob Klutz got the OZ Monaro's rebadged as Goats over here,be thankful that GM N America didn't f**k up again and add the legendary GTO name on another fwd sh*tbox."




Saw a new GTO badged "Munro" the other day with the full body kit on it....sure looked nice to me!...pity Holden's gunna stop making them!

[OverheadCam]

Speaking of FWD sh*tboxes......in what regard do you guys in the US hold the Oldsmobile Toronado (often misnamed over hear as a Tornado)?


455cu bigblock putting power to the front wheels through a chain drive line!....I can't believe they could fit it all under the hood!!!....and how do they handle? (this is a little off topic I know!)

[Foxtrot X-Ray]

Getting a bit off-topic with the Alternative Fuel stuff, but I do like the idea of Electrics and Hybrids..


However, I prefer the idea of Hydrogen powered vehicles more, though. Both in I.C.E. and Fuel Cell applications.





(H.I.C.E. can give you V-8 Rumble AND better milage and power. Ideal for retrofitting old vehicles.)








As for Sail Powered... This is actually a very good idea and as I've mentioned before, I'd like to see some Sail Cars in MM4


Definately wouldn't want any of the chase scenes to be done with Sail Cars, But as basic transportation seen here & there, for minor characters, this would be cool.





People are gonna make do with whatever they can build.





'Sides.. we've alread been told that MM4's gonna be a throwback to MM2, with roaring V-8s and no Goonie Kids.

[MFP559]

Imagine if Mad Max was made today, how hot would Big Bopper & March Hare BA XR8's look?...and Max in a BA FPV GT-P, the Night Rider in a new Monaro & the toecutter's gang all on late model bikes with Jim Goose on a ZX-12 or Hayabusa.


Only thing is, there's no BA coupe for the Black on Black pursuit special.

[MFP559]

Maybe a REALLY WILD ute??

[Quite-Riot]

ya know guys the Toecutter has a good point with disel/electro 80's S10 but it need to be cheaper than 30-40K to be a real choice.The world has reached its peak in oil production which means we can't produce anymore than we are today.Demand is only going up,5% last year largly thanks to China.Sure we may have oil 75-100 years from now but it wount be cheap oil.Our economys run on inexpensive energy and when we run out of cheap oil all hell is going to break loose.I suggest we all keep turning our wrenches and try to be prepared for that day in the not to distant future.