Miserly hybrid scooter uses only 1.7 litres per 100km

Scooters are already one of the most fuel-efficient forms of transport around - but like the rest of the automotive industry, they’ll have to pull their socks up if and when the energy crisis comes about.

That’s when devices like these will come into their own - the engineering department at the University of Tasmania has come up with an AU$1500 add-on modification that turns a normal motor scooter into a hybrid plug-in ethanol-electric mile muncher that’s greener than Hitchcock on Oscars night. 1.7 litres per 100km, for our American friends, translates to almost 140 miles per gallon.

The system also includes regenerative braking, which is one of the coolest features on any electric bike, and almost worth the price of admission.

Sadly, we don’t have any photos, so we can’t see if you have to sacrifice your underseat storage to fit the device. Full details after the jump.

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NEWS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA

In what is understood to be an Australian first, the School of Engineering at the University of Tasmania has developed a pilot hybrid electric scooter which runs both on state-of-the-art battery technology and an ethanol-blend driven internal combustion engine.

The scooter has been developed by a strong research team in Automotive Technology and Electrical Engineering as part of their push to build capabilities in Australia in alternative energy.

Steven Ambrose, a research scholar within the Engineering School who helped build the scooter, said its features included:

- a state-of-the-art regenerative braking system which charges the batteries as the brake is applied;
- advanced control systems which start the ethanol-blend engine to assist during acceleration and steep climbs;
- an ability to reach a top speed of 80k/ph when both energy sources work together;
- a recharge time of 40 mins when all recharge systems – including plug in - are combined;
- costs about $1500 for all the add-on modules for an existing scooter;
- on hybrid mode, the scooter uses only 1.7 litres of ethanol blend per 100km – 35 per cent less fuel than a petrol-only scooter.

Chief investigator, Dr Vishy Karri, said that while hybrid technology was well advanced in the US, Europe and Japan, the fact Australia was now developing its own expertise was “very satisfying”.

“The pilot program has reinforced our capability in building yet another solution to alternative fuels,” he said. “We need several, parallel efforts to build alternative energy sources. Hydrogen technologies, biodiesel as an alternative fuel and now the plug-in hybrids are our efforts to reduce our dependency on petrol in the future. I am extremely proud of our technical team, their capabilities and their enthusiasm for new challenges.”

Mr Ambrose said it had been a significant challenge to build “a technology capability on par with the Germans, Americans and the Japanese”. “It has been a tedious journey to synchronise all the control systems and I am glad it is working well.”

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