Finally! I got to go to something cool where there were hot chicks, great Jeeps, and people wearing shiny shoes. I even got invited to a couple of parties that I don’t remember all that well (the details are a little fuzzy), got to shoot a Tommy gun on full-auto, and basically just had a good time out in Las Vegas, Nevada, without waking up in the middle of the desert with my pants missing.
The system consists of a 16KW onboard charger, four 48 VDC batteries, and this “electric engine” which bolts in place of your rear driveshaft. While the kit gives a good fuel economy bump, the big deal is the added torque. Like all electric motors, this one has a big, flat torque curve that can add up to or over 300 ft-lb of torque to your Jeep. That’s the kind of torque that makes even diesel engines worry.
I wasn’t really there to party it up. I went to see if there were any cool new electrical things at the 2011 SEMA show. That’s an industry-insider show that takes place towards the end of every year in this season they call fall. Oodles of companies come to a big building to show off their latest and greatest contraptions. I don’t know much about that oodles word, and I don’t know why I just used it. It seems I heard it at the show, but I still really don’t understand it. Kind of like I don’t understand how “Bill” is short for “William.” I would think that “Bill” should be short for “Billiam.”
Anyway, what I’m here today to talk about is a Jeep Wrangler that gets 100 mpg and has about 300 more torques without swapping the engine (Editor’s note: that is a 4-door JK that makes 300 ft-lb more than stock). You smarter readers might have figured it out already, but for those of you who haven’t, I’m talking about a hybrid-electric Wrangler conversion.
This gas tank for a four-door Wrangler has a capacity of 22.5 gallons. While 100 mpg is possible from this kit under ideal conditions and good fuel-saving driving techniques, most people doing normal mixed driving are more likely to see mileage numbers in the mid-30s. That would give you about 787 miles from of one tank of gas. Just a little bit better than the 200 miles I hear you guys complaining of now.
The company that makes the coercion…or is it conversion…brought both a Ford F-150 and a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited to the SEMA show. It’s called Xtreme Power and is based in Texas. That’s a country down by Mexico. Xtreme Power has been in business building integrated energy and storage solutions since 2004, which gives them a lot of experience to bring to an add-on electric motor for a Jeep.
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