Solar celled hybrid vehicle

Claim 1

In a gas driven automobile including an internal combustion engine having associated therewith gearing and a first differential, said engine gearing and differential being disposed proximate a first axle connected to be driven thereby, said automobile further including a second axle, the improvement comprising: a second differential connected to said second axle for distributing power thereto, said second differential including an input shaft for receiving power applied thereto and sprocket means mounted on said input shaft; electric motor means attached to said second axle including chain drive means connected to said sprocket means; a first and second array of batteries disposed within said automobile each said array comprising a series connection of a plurality of batteries; control means connected between said arrays and said electric motor means including a first, manually selected, control stage for connecting said first and second arrays to said motor means in series or in parallel according to the manual selection thereof and a second control stage articulated by a foot pedal for interposing combinations of current limiting resistors between said first stage and said motor means according to the position of said foot pedal; and solar panel means disposed on said automobile and connected across said first and second array for recharging said batteries when said first control stage is in said series connecting mode.