I spoke with the engineer who helped design the generator for the car in this book:
http://www.megawattmotorworks.com/display.asp?dismode=article&artid=374
He said the hybrid generator system they designed fit under the hood of the Miata and could keep the vehicle running while it recharged the batteries.
A one-off build of the generator could be done for about $20,000, but the price would go down with a group buy. If anyone’s interested, I could inquire further.
Found this link off bdeck’s link. Jay Leno drives the Tesla.
Pretty slick, and got me thinking. They have the Tesla motor mounted transverse in the rear of the vehicle with a 2 speed transmission. It’s possible to take a FWD transaxle and modify it to work as a RWD unit. Therefore, it would be possible to mount a manual transaxle and electric motor in the rear of a rear wheel drive vehicle. Don’t know why I didn’t think of this before.
So could an ICE engine be mounted in front and an EV transaxle in the rear, or would that get too heavy? The ICE motor may not need to be strong enough to provide full power – just supplemental power as many current hybrids do.
A supplier of kits intended to be mounted on a transaxle is www.e-volks.com – see the second photo down on this page: http://www.e-volks.com/kit3.html