Kers (kinetic energy regeneration)
 

Hello,

I've just got round to actually getting myself setup properly on this forum (just need to add my car - tomorrow)

Anyway....this is only a 'feeler' as to what people think.

I have been looking at the various ways of boosting our cars s/c , turbo, nitrous... all good options - but more often than not need a lot of work and $$$$.

Been looking at KERS. Ferrari have it, Porsche are looking into it etc etc. My question is ..."what is the option of introducing KERS to our cars?'....
Talking about the flywheel KERS version. Wouldn't it be something else to have a 60kw system on tap at a press of a button. Acceleration and torque all the way....very green :)

Please feel free to Google search KERS and it's applications.

I know a decent amount about KERS, but wouldn't you spend even more adapting this to our cars?
And you can only use that "boost" in spurts

could someone explain how KERS works?

from what i have read, its some type of electric motor that adds power some how and can only be used in small bursts but i havent been able to figure out how it works

It's regenerative breaking, easiest example being the Prius, you press the brakes, it recharges the battery. You then use that power to accelerate from the next light.

oh so pretty much is uses motors to generate electricity? then you can use that electricity to spin the motors forward giving you acceleration?

that kind of makes sense but why not just go with a turbo setup with antilag?

Lol, yessir, and that's exactly what I'm wondering... Adding KERS to any car isn't efficient in any way over a turbo setup IMO

i guess if it was used in conjunction with a turbo or supercharger setup it could be beneficial but to add a system like that to the Z would probably cost more than having a turbo kit installed professionally and custom dyno tuned

im just gonna stick with nos when it comes to temp power, its cheaper and easier to setup

Yeah, I think all the NOS in the world would be cheaper and easier to install than KERS in our cars...

The obvious questions are how much weight to have enough storage to make it useful and where are you going to put the cells in our already tight cars? Also, does this fit the model of the average Z driver? Regenerative braking is most helpful in city stop/go driving.

Besides all that, the cost would kill it.

Have KERS store electricity in a battery due from braking and then use that energy to power a electric motor to quickly spool up a turbo or supercharger system. Adding electric drive motors to the wheels or tranny would be a great experiment but very costly to do, and you would never mass produce it as a kit. That's why the oem have engineering staff.

Judging by some of the backmarkers, notably Marussia in F1, not having the funds to get this to work on their cars, I fail to see how this is a viable option over a turbo on a road car that doesn't have KERS from the factory.

can you explain how that will work?

Just so you know no one here knows anything about KERS. Otherwise someone would have pointed out that it is not Kinetic Energy Regeneration. It is Kinetic Energy Recovery System.

That is a awesome idea for street cars. I had never thought about that.

While KERS is a great concept and several companies are bringing viable products to market, retrofitting KERS for performance gains would be a costly, complicated affair that would add considerable weight. One might be able to design/install a KERS MPG booster, but I wouldn't expect great power/performance gains from a homebrew system.


Edit: I'm not trying to talk anybody out of doing it - if someone can put a jet turbine in a VW, KERS in a 370Z is possible - just be aware that it is not the typical DIY project and will require a lot of engineering know-how.