Plug-in Hybrid Cars from Giant Gas-Hogs: NetGain's EMIS

Hybrid cars are green, low-mileage SUVs and gas-gulping delivery trucks are...also green?

The Driver's Dilemma

Gargantuan gas-gobblers like delivery vans and half-ton work trucks are probably too big and heavy to convert to 100% electric.
Unfortunately, these are just the vehicles we Americans like to drive! In the case of small delivery vans, which get somewhere between 5-8 mpg, we don't have much choice but to drive them, either...so what do you do?

Well, what if I told you NetGain's come up with a way to convert the worst gas-guzzlers into plug-in hybrid cars? NetGain, the company that brought us the fabulous WarP 9 DC motor that powers most of the electric cars we're driving around, has invented the Engine Motor Interface System (EMIS), which takes one of these big honking gas-hogs and tames it down into a kindler, gentler gas-hog with significantly better gas mileage that you plug in overnight.

Here's the deal. If you've got a...

• Rear-wheel drive;
• 1996 or newer;
• giant gas-guzzler with dreadful gas mileage...

...these are perfect candidates to be converted hybrid cars using the EMIS™ from NetGain.

(Wondering if your gas burner is a good candidate for the EMIS conversion? Look for your car's make and model at this page at Salida Conversions to find out!)

How does NetGain's EAS Kit turn gas cars into hybrid cars?

• an electric motor, like the TransWarP, added to the drive train of your gas hog;
• the EMIS Engine Motor Interface - a "black box" containing a computer to chat with your gas-guzzler's computers to determine when the electric motor should kick in and assist your ICE so that you get the MAXIMUM mpg; and
• a 48v battery pack.

What does this mean to you? Twenty-six percent better gas mileage, a conversion cost of about 7k, and it can be done in less than a day.

Conversation with NetGain's Dennis Bieschke

Me: Let me make sure I'm understanding the concept correctly.
The EMIS is a hybrid car kit, basically, which includes a TranswarP motor, and which also includes a...what, a program for your car's engine computers, or another computer for the motor which communicates with the car's engine? Then the motor's computer makes a decision, based on several factors, to switch on the electric motor to give a boost of power when the fuel demand is high, right?

Dennis: Not exactly. EMIS is part of EAS™ which consists of an electric motor, batteries and a control system (patent pending) that provides electric power to the drive shaft SIMULTANEOUSLY with power from the gasoline engine in your vehicle. TransWarP Motors were developed as a motor that can be used with EMIS™, but the system is actually "motor independent".

(English: The kit is not called EMIS; EMIS is just the brain. The kit is called EAS. When you buy an EAS, you'll get an EMIS, one of our motors - not necessarily the TransWarP - and a bank of batteries.)

Me: How do you know exactly when the electric motor should intervene to maximize fuel economy?

Dennis: You can read the patent, but the exact process is proprietary.

(Nobody else is doing it today, but it's a really neat product, and we'd like a chance to beat our competitors to market, if it's all the same to you.)

Me: Sorry. I mean, is it pretty obvious stuff (like when you're going up a hill, for example, or accelerating to pass on the freeway), or did you experiment with various things until you reached the maximum fuel economy in practice?

Dennis: EMIS™ is a patent pending technology developed by NetGain Technologies, LLC that interfaces to a conventional vehicles on-board computer system to ascertain the current demands being requested of the internal combustion engine by the driver. Based upon numerous parameters, EMIS™ instantaneously determines the amount of electrical assist power that can be applied to the drive train electric motor in order to seamlessly assist the internal combustion engine.

(We asked the car's computers when the engine needed a big drink of petroleum-based fuel product, and obligingly...they told us.)

Me: This seems like excellent pain relief for those of us who are stuck with our giant SUVs that we now can't get rid of because nobody else wants them, either; ) If I was getting 15 mpg in my ginormous Suburban, how much can I expect the EMIS to help with that? Can we realistically get 25-30 mpg with these converted hybrid cars?

Me: EAS, right.

Dennis: One needs to remember that EAS™ was originally conceived as an offering to fleet vehicles that travel an average of 84 miles per day and average 6-8 miles per gallon. The expected payback period for vehicles in this initial target audience is approximately 30 months (without the benefit of any tax credits or other government subsidies. In general, the greater your gas mileage, the lower the potential fuel savings benefit of EAS™. With continued optimization of the system and as production volume increases, NetGain projects that critical component quantities may bring the cost down for normal passenger vehicles to the point where they may experience a similar payback period. We have heard "unsubstantiated reports" from users of these (EAS-converted hybrid cars) that are running at 72 Volts that indicate they are receiving almost double these savings. We have recently upgraded our test vehicle to 72 volts and will begin testing the second week in July.

(The worse your gas mileage sucks, the better you're gonna love our EAS. We started out with the worst gas-guzzling offenders on the roads - delivery truck fleets - so the payback for them is 2-3 years. If the price of gas continues to escalate and we continue to bring down the EAS hybrid car component costs, even your Lincoln Navigator is going to pay for its EAS conversion in very short order. We're testing a bigger battery pack to see if more is better, and hey...isn't more usually better?)

Me: This EAS turns my gas-guzzling SUV into a parallel hybrid, right?

Dennis: That's right.

(These conversions are plug-in parallel hybrid cars, in fact, not like those big rolling power-tool chargers Chevy has been trying to pass off as hybrid cars .)

Dennis: EEEZE.

(Real EAS-y.)

Me: The EAS sounds like a cheap and easy fix for low mileage, and most of the SUVs built in the last ten years are just the type your system will attach to; rear wheel drive. So why doesn't GM come knocking on your door, rather than closing its gas-guzzler plants? Isn't this a match made in heaven, if Americans actually do want to drive giant gas-guzzlers (the better to pack around our supersized McDonalds bootays), and you've got a way to make it less painful by turning regular cars into hybrid cars?

Dennis: As you have seen already in the market, Ford and GM are developing integrated hybrid car models for their respective SUV lines which would be the logical design, test and build cycle of a major manufacturer. NetGain Technologies' focus has been on the existing market (865 million vehicles worldwide), rather than new since most delivery type vehicles are on the road for 10-17 years and this technology has the potential for a greater environmental effect with conversions rather than new vehicles.

(GM wants to build new cars. We've found a way to recycle the gas-hogs you're already stuck with into plug-in parallel hybrid cars. Think of it as aftermarket therapy for painful gas.)

Me: Just how many of these wonderful gizmos can you guys supply? Everybody wants hybrid cars now! Are they available today, for me and 10,000 of my closest friends? We're allergic to delayed gratification; )

Dennis: We are currently working with potential strategic partners who are experts in the commercialization of newly developed products so that once introduced to the industrial market, we can support the technology with product and the expertise which will then allow EAS™ to advance into the consumer markets. If you know of any potential partners that would be interested, please put them in contact with us.

(Not all ten thousand of you at once, no. We've hooked up with a few dozen conversion shops around the US that know how to install them, because it's a little tricky to get it right and electric cars have enough trouble getting love from the media without an unnecessary scandal caused by a faulty installation.)

Me: Do I plug it in, or are the batteries fed by the alternator? 110 or 220? PFC charger or not?

Dennis: The current components offered by NetGain anticipate that the batteries (48 volt DC configuration) will be recharged as needed, which in most cases would be daily when the vehicle is not in use. That is, the current version of EAS™ produces a “plug-in electric hybrid car”(PHEV). A standard charger that is rated at 48 volts would be needed. Our goal was to improve MPG as much as possible - therefore, it did not make much sense for us to use $4.00/gallon fuel (petroleum) to create $1.00/ gallon fuel (electricity). The rule of thumb used at 48 volts is that for every bank of 100 AH batteries you can get useful assist for around 50 miles of combined city/highway driving before a recharge is necessary.

(Do you want to use expensive gasoline to produce cheap electricity? Probably not, since you're not an oil company exec. So we took the sensible approach - 48 volts is just enough juice to save you money and take you as far as you'll need to go without needing to recharge except at night. And no, the charger is not included.)

Me: How does it compare with the Poulsen hybrid car? To me, this X-prize contestant seems much the same as the EMIS, but attaches differently, plugs in, and has more power...and I'm thinking their design (which seems to be in the experimental phase right now) wouldn't work well in practice (or for long) under real life conditions. Can you comment?

Dennis: NetGain Technologies, LLC has not evaluated the Poulsen hybrid car, especially in relation to all the safety concerns one must consider, so we would have no comment at this time.

(Lynne, we're in the business of supplying real motors for real electric cars which real people drive. Judging science fair projects, that's more your line of work, right?)

Me: How difficult is the EMIS to install, if I don't have much experience at this sort of thing? Do I have options about whether I install it myself or get it done by a professional?

Dennis: EAS. How difficult is the EAS to install?

Me: Right.

Dennis: At this time only authorized dealers are installing the system, because of the safety check requirements and the installation equipment needs (some motors weigh over 230 pounds).

(We want these to actually work, so we only send them to people that we are sure are competent to install the system correctly. No offense, but Lynne...that's not you. You said so yourself.)

Me: Does the installation of the EAS have any effect on the gas-guzzler's powertrain warranty?

Dennis: Both EAS™ and EMIS™ are patent pending technologies. NetGain intends to educate the market regarding both. After an appropriate amount of time, NetGain will sell and/or license such patent pending technologies to third parties, enter into strategic partnerships and more. NetGain expects that such third parties and strategic partners will address warranty issues in the context of their particular use of such patent pending technologies.

To the extent that EAS™ and EMIS™ are made available to the market for use by persons who desire to use it in the context of their intended use, this will be done without warranty and subject to hold harmless agreements that will benefit NetGain and others. This is primarily due to the fact that such persons have complete control over their use and installation of EAS™ and EMIS™, and NetGain and others are not in control of such uses and installations. It is assumed that such persons are sophisticated and knowledgeable users; to that end, each such person will be required to represent this before any sale is to occur.

(Okay, the big automakers are probably not going to be thrilled about the alterations, let's be honest. They'd rather sell you a new car. But when you buy a car, the powertrain belongs to you. If you get an EAS installed correctly, it shouldn't hurt your powertrain at all, but we're not about to assume responsibility for bad installations.)

Me: How much weight does the EMIS add?

Dennis: EMIS itself weighs very little. However, the EAS™ system's weight will vary depending on the size motor (90 to 230 pounds) that is used, some structural members to hold the motor and the number of batteries that are designed for the application. For the testing we have completed with the Grumman truck, the added weight of the system was less than 1100 pounds and was included in our savings of 26%.

(The EMIS - the brain - weighs a pound. It doesn't work by itself, though. The motor has weight, the batteries have weight. The weight of the kit is all that stuff together.)

Me: The GPS option for tracking your employee's every move that you mention in your FAQ just screams "invasion of privacy" to me. Are fleet owners actually taking you up on that option? I remember, back in my days as an employee, I used to drive a car from the motor pool during rush hour in Seattle. The shortest route from A to B and back was not always the fastest, and I can just imagine having to justify my wild, taxicab driving adventures to some corporate bean-counter based on feedback from my GPS tracking device.Okay, that was more comment than question. Sorry; )

(Hang on. We're not the Evil Empire, nor are we associated or affiliated with the Evil Empire in any way.
Think about it: small businesses are the ones who need EMIS the most. For them, converting the delivery fleet into EMIS hybrid cars might be the difference between staying in business and going bankrupt. Global MegaCorp, on the other hand, can afford to buy a fleet of Priuses, and already has. They're probably not our target client.)

Me: Um...you guys are publicly traded, or not?

Dennis: NetGain Technologies, LLC is a limited liability corporation in Illinois, i.e. privately owned.

(So no shares in your stocking this Christmas, sorry.)

Gotta have your own hybrid car conversion?

Note: This conversion is not currently available for 4x4s or front wheel drive. NetGain is working on other possibilities for a wider range of hybrid car conversions even as we speak.

Note to Self: EAS is the KIT. EMIS is the brain of the kit. (Any questions?)

In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.
- Bertrand Russell

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