It was bound to happen and as odd as it sounds,  Popular Mechanics undertook a project to make an ECO MUSCLE car and transformed a 2009 Dodge Challenger RT into a custom hybrid machine.  The car is planned to be displayed at SEMA in November 2009.

We wont attempt to rewrite the article, but we can tell you some key highlights

1.  Lightening of the car through use of available carbon fiber body parts as well as a custom made carbon fiber roof skin.

2. Exide Select Orbital Batteries (28) mounted in series in a two-level rack (4 feet wide by 2 feet long and 20 inches high) generating 336 volts.

3.  UQM Technology Power Phase 125 System utilizing a SR218 liquid-cooled brushless DC electric motor producing 125 hp and 176 lb-ft of torque while revving smoothly to 8000 rpm    This unit measures 9 inches long, 11 inches in diameter and weighs only 89 pounds and is said to be comparable to a V6 rated at 250 hp.

4. UQM DD45-500LWD liquid-cooled inverter / controller drawing battery power to feed the electric motor, then controls the charge returning to the batteries during regenerative braking.

Unlike other hyrbids which are driven by an electric motor 100% of the time with a battery pack providing the charge and a small engine providing charging and additional volts as needed, the ECO MUSCLE Challenger has two parallel powertrains, gas and electric, each one capable of independently driving the car.

While not practical for a real world vehicle (you loose the entire back seat since it has been replaced by a mass of batteries), this project is intriguing because it maintains the horsepower of the factory hemi for those times you need to romp on it with an electric zero emission solution for stop and go city driving.  

In todays world, the use of hybrid powered vehicles are thought of as low power, economy over performance vehicles, but we must remember that for over 50 years, some of the most powerful vehicles traveling (locomotives) have relied on hybrid diesel electric power to produce up to 6000 hp while pulling thousand of tons over the nations rails. 

To check out the full article,,, here is the web address to check out for some interesting reading.

http://media.origin.popularmechanics.com/documents/ecomuscle/makeover1.html 

Photos: Popular Mechanics