ok, let's descend from Prius land to the dirt.knewsom said:yes, but an electric motor at a relatively slow speed will get a lot more out of that energy than 3.5 minutes of operation time.
In my experience, while off-roading on the rocky trails, I usually run the engine at about 1200-1500 rpm; Rover V8 makes about 25-30kW (35-40hp) there. Say, 10kW is lost to the automatic transmission, and another 3-4 - between transfer case and differentials (those are more efficient than you think). That still puts about 11-16 kW on the ground.
If ALL of your electric charge could go to the ground, you'll have 15 minutes of running time.
Next, about the weight savings.
The maximum torque and power an electric motor can develop are limited by the volume of copper (in windings) and iron (in core). These are physical limits that can hardly be better than current state-of-the-art. So, there you go:
internal combustion engine: roughly 1kW/kG of engine mass
Best electric motors: roughly 2kW/kG of engine mass.
Good? Yesss! But...
Batteries: 0.18 (lead acid) to 0.34 (Li Ion) kW/kG.....
Now, if you actually bothered to look at the torque-RPM curves of most electric motors, you'd find that you simply cannot get by without at least a two-speed gearbox.
There goes some more of your perceived weight advantage.
One motor, two motors, four motors... have as many as you want, but consider this:
what would you rather do when your ride stops dead in its tracks: pull a third member or an axle apart, or tinker with a 300-volt, high-amp cirquit? Hint, in case if you never dealt with high-power electronics: a quarter-inch-diameter shank of a screwdriver will evaporate in a flash when you short a 300-volt battery bank. Shatterproof safety glasses are a must, and later on you'll wish you had a welding helmet.
I'm getting chatty...