I can’t say that I am a big fan of the looks of this car, but the 225 miles per gallon is hard to beat. The car has an electric rear drive system with a Kubota diesel system when the lithium batteries run out. Apparently you will be able to purchase an XR3 kit soon. There are a lot more pictures on the website, including the build process.
Read more about the XR3 hybrid car kit
10 thoughts on “XR3: 225 mpg hybrid car kit”
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The word “tweaks” was in the “Article”.
My sugguestions
1.) The article says “Fiber glass”, I would change that to carbon fiber.
2.) Get rid of the neat looking rims, and use a cover that would make it a little bit more aerodynamic.
3.) Solar panels on the car to help with recharge.
4.) Get rid of the exterior mirrors and use camera – more aerodynamic advantage
5.) Bring the back further to make a smaller point.
6.) Make a “golf ball” pitted under carriage.
7.) Any part made of Iron or Steal that can be replace with a lighter material would be replaced. Aluminum, Titanium , etc..
The would what I would do first to increase my millage.
Hi,
With regards to #2 would covering the wheels cause issues with brake cooling?
With regards to #7 carbon fiber can replace a lot of the steel in a vehicle. There is a question in my mind about safety. Steel will bend and twist in an impact. Carbon fiber will de-laminate and shatter. When properly designed both do well at converting the impact energy to heat before complete failure. However, in a non-racing environment I wonder about the real world efficacy of the carbon fiber to protect the occupants who are not wearing Nomex suits, helmets and 5 point harnesses. Bring on the crash test dummies I say!
You could also use ceramic break pads, with a rotor that is slotted, cross drilled (or dimple drilled) and vented.
Well, if he did it right – i didn’t see if he did do this – you would have a cage of some sort around the cab. The reason I said carbon fiber was to make it a tad bit lighter. Lighter car = less energy to move = MPG boost. Of course it’s probably a lot less of an MPG boost than it would take to justify the cost.
I have purchased the plans for this, fiberglass is used due to cost. This is meant to be built in a home garage, so things are kept simple. Design changes can be made by the builder.
Bad choice of nomenclature. In the UK the XR3 was Ford’s underpowered, lack-lustre answer to the Golf GTi in the 80s.
The XR3i was a slight improvement but the term XR3 still conjures up images of reverse baseball-hatted bad boyz.