An Electric Trike with a leaning wooden frame

Building an electric vehicle can be easy. We wanted to figure out how to build one from scratch, and we also wanted to build one that was fun to ride. The goal of our project was to make available the plans to build a low-speed, leaning, electric trike that could be built in a modestly stocked workshop from readily available parts

First Night Austin gave us a grant to build a fleet of these vehicles to include in their Grand Procession - a parade that is part of the downtown family art festival in Austin, Texas. Our piece also included a dinosaur-like gasoline powered SUV art car which our cavemen and trike riders would hunt down as part of the festivities.

Find out more about the makers - The Caveman Collective

Step 1 Parts and Tools

Tools you will need:

A jigsaw with a wood cutting blade.
A screw gun.
Various drill bits.
A socket for tightening lag screws.
A few 6 inch C-clamps for clamping and gluing.
Wire-cutters and crimpers.
A volt meter for sanity testing things.
Hacksaw with metal cutting blade.
Sandpaper for smoothing wood.
Large crescent wrench.

Materials:

Wood glue - Elmer's wood glue or Gorilla glue work fine
Half inch furniture grade plywood 2'x4' sheet
2"x6" wood
2"x4" wood
2"x2" wood

Wood varnish / paint to seal your wooden frame
3" Quarter inch lag screws
1.25" wood screws
2.5" wood screws

The front end of a kid's bike with a 20" wheel.
6"x2" eighth inch steel bar.

A two motor electric wheelchair. (Our favorite is the Quickie P300 with large wheels)

zip-ties
duct tape

Metal swivel - we used the 300lb caster swivel from Harbor Freight as we had some lying around.

We ate our own dog food in terms of finding parts - we acquired the parts to make 5 trikes in a few weeks with a little scouring.

Comments

[Barramundi]

how much does it weigh?

[jr.tuckluck13]

I like your idea, but regular trikes are excruciatingly dangerous. If you reverse it and put the two wheels in front, it becomes exponentially more stable.

[ajparag]

your project is commendable. i always wanted to make a vehicle like that. i even tried to make one during our college project but failed. i couldn't find a suitable controller for my project. can you suggest something for it? i used a 240watts PMDC motor and two 12V and 9amp(usually used in bikes) batteries to power it

[chrwei]

 did you skip step 8, or is this a new question?

[ajparag]

hi...
as u can c i posted that comment ages ago. lol. neways thanks for replying.
keep posting new ideas.
c ya

[Odziz]

Nice job! Just an idea for those who can't weld. You could cut the front bicycle frame and sandwich it between the wooden frame, securing it with bolts. I've used this technique before and it worked fine for me.

[psymansays]

 The first go-kart I built with my Dad, we used a wooden frame, and we did the exact thing you're talking about, with the front of a bike frame jammed into the 4x4 that ran down the center of it. That worked well, for the life of the kart.

[omnibot]

Instructable or it didn't happen! No, srly .. I'd like to get some more detailed instructions on this since I've been thinking the same.

[Odziz]

Its not on the instructable site, this was before I came across 'DIY Heaven'. I built a replica of the Tripendo using the above technique. Basically it was constructed out of two pieces of ply in the same shape as the Tripendo main body. The frame parts were laid out on the ply (rear frame at the rear and pedal section at the front, its a recumbent trike) marked out and the routed to the required depth. The frame parts were then 'sandwiched' between the two ply halves and bolted together. The only thing I couldn't get quite right was the tilt and steer.

[smegger]

 Great use of surplus parts like the castor for the leaning mech. Why are people saying 'its too slow for a leaning mechanism'? You stated that this is the start of a greater goal so whats the harm in trying it out!

Also I like projects that require low tech tools unlike mine where I had to do plenty of machining which puts a lot of people off.

I'm going to soon build another electric vehicle but this time out of wood like yours hopefully.

Keep up the good work!

Sam

[nolte919]

You really should put the final picture from step 12 in to the intro.  It's difficult to follow without knowing what it is you're building.  Plus that would make the actual picture of your creation appear as the primary picture for this instructable and as the mini picture next to search results and whatnot.

[dillahay]

Very nice great workmenship. Can we see a wiring diagram to check out.

[sushrutpatgaonkar]

i just wanted to ask if it has a differential , if yes what type , if no then how does it turn

[Garreth]

It has no mechanical differential Sushrutpatgaonkar. It turns as there are two motors - one on each driving wheel. So the differential is actually an electrical control which allows you to give more power to one motor than the other while cornering!

[demon monk]

Thanks everyone - the concept is pretty much centered around the idea of cooperative-based design and construction of alternative energy transportation solutions. These trikes are a first, very low-tech step towards our greater goal, which is to collaborate on a fully functional and practical electric vehicle which could be built at home from the ground up and used in place of the 2-ton gas guzzlers we ferry ourselves around in today.

These electric trikes are pretty slow, I think the fastest one has a top speed of 7MP, but they are perfect for cruising around the playa =) Eventually we hope the design and project will evolve into faster and safer constructions, and of course we'll continue to share the work and ideas with the instructables community. Keep checking back on this instructable as we will be adding more pdf's and details on the construction process over the following week.

[macrumpton]

Cool looking vehicle! If your top speed is only 7mph isn't the leaning a little overkill? I have driven one of those trike bikes that old folks use to go shopping with and they are pretty stable in that speed range. If you made one of those trike bikes into a non leaning recumbent (like the many fwd bmx recumbents on this site) that would lower your C of G and be even more stable and easy to make. I would probably go for just sticking a hub motor on the front wheel since they are pretty cheap now.

[stephenniall]

Nice work Im thinking of making one like this with a little 75cc engine that i have spare on it PS like the guy below me said about for people who cant weld U could get two U bolts and secure the frame using them

[Charles IV]

Could you put up a video please!!

[macjedimatt]

Is it possible for you to post a video of this working? I'm curious how the tilting works.

[GorillazMiko]

Wow... that's cool. At first I thought it was funny... but no... this is really awesome. No, I'm not being sarcastic. Great Instructable.

[AlvinMaker]

thats really cool. good job.

[alvincredible]

is your name alvin too?

[AlvinMaker]

no. i just read a book where a dude named alvin maker makes things with his magical powers. It was pretty cool so i used it. my name is isaac.

[alvincredible]

LOL ahaha you tricked me...for a moment i thogut i wasnt alone :-( ahah jk many people tell me i do have others...so far, ive only met a submarine, a chipmunk, and a black man who scared me one halloween.

[AlvinMaker]

yes i can be quite tricky in the ways of tae kwon alvin

[mwwdesign]

The Alvinator.

[PKM]

My "constructive criticism" would be a picture of the trike in the intro or first step would be a welcome addition- all the way through I was scratching my head as to what the final design would be like, and then when I saw it had to go back and re-read the instructable to put the parts into context. It could be a diagram/sketch if you want to keep the finished trike as the "big reveal" for the last step :) That said, I love the design- I don't think I've seen an EV or bike designed like this. I guess a narrow traditional trike design would make it a little unstable at high speed which might explain the rarity of the design, but as you say for cruising round at low speed it would be fine.

[omnibot]

I agree, there should be a better picture in the beginning, although this one does get my attention :) I think the swiveling joint could aid stability at higher speeds but I wonder if it should be mounted the other way around.

[omnibot]

The use of the swivel-wheel as a sideways rotating link is pure genious. I've been thinking about that problem for a year and that's perfect.

[hitokiri_808]

The caster is genius.

[mushfiqc]

a lil paint and if u change the front wheel it will look so good not that it doesnt allready :D

[cjbikenut]

Very cool!! could we see some pictures of the finished fleet?

[Lego man]

Awesome can I make it bigger like bicycle high?

[Garreth]

At the speeds we got up to, it worked better lower down. More like a slow running chopper than a fast turning sports bike in motorcycle terms. If you used bigger back wheels, but kept the weight in the drive unit lower down, it would still work. Let me know if you try it!

[grue]

the end looks like the bottom of a segway

[Mikey D]

Awesome job! Some videos would be great!

[joejoerowley]

Thats Great! I love it! Put a little under glow and giant sub and that would Awesome.

[Garreth]

Thanks! We have one with some light effects underneath - I'll post some pictures in a while.

[Bran]

Excellent, excellent job! (As soon as I learn to weld,) I plan on making one of these!

[rimar2000]

AWESOME, very well work!