Environmentalist? Give this a try!
The problem: Need exercise and local transportation
The first solution: Electric bike kit! (excellent parts from ebikes.ca)
The new problem: It rains here. A lot.
The second solution: A zero emission vehicle with a roof.
The plan is to make a car that is light weight and pedal powered with electric and solar assist.
For now this is a build log and collection of messy notes. I'll add more over the next few days until school starts again. Feel free to subscribe and check back in the spring (of 2013) when I hope to have the front wheels on.
Minirant: I was trying to sell my neighbour on electric bikes and she said "It rains a lot here". Which is true and it got me thinking; is it crazy that in our culture we use two tons of steel as an umbrella and call it normal? A tonbrella as it were. This vehicle is my first attempt at a more practical solution to the rain issue.
The problem: Need exercise and local transportation
The first solution: Electric bike kit! (excellent parts from ebikes.ca)
The new problem: It rains here. A lot.
The second solution: A zero emission vehicle with a roof.
The plan is to make a car that is light weight and pedal powered with electric and solar assist.
For now this is a build log and collection of messy notes. I'll add more over the next few days until school starts again. Feel free to subscribe and check back in the spring (of 2013) when I hope to have the front wheels on.
Minirant: I was trying to sell my neighbour on electric bikes and she said "It rains a lot here". Which is true and it got me thinking; is it crazy that in our culture we use two tons of steel as an umbrella and call it normal? A tonbrella as it were. This vehicle is my first attempt at a more practical solution to the rain issue.
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At Maker Faire 2012 in Vancouver I saw a couple electric cars. One was a Porsche (converted by my childhood friend it turns out). The other was made of door skin and a lot cheaper to make; plus it can go 60km/h 37mph.
This plywood car was called the Fauchet = faux + Mochet
Georges Mochet made pedal powered micro cars in the 1940~50s.
Mr. 1JohnFoster (from http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=25315&start=30) made his Fauchet electric car out of 1/8" plywood using a stitch and glue boat building technique. http://fauchet.tripod.com/
Stitch-and-glue seems like a construction method that is quite useful: it requires no specialized tools, no mold (unlike fiberglass), little skill/experience, cheap materials. We'll find out shortly.
(Will add image credits once the notation system is fixed)
This plywood car was called the Fauchet = faux + Mochet
Georges Mochet made pedal powered micro cars in the 1940~50s.
Mr. 1JohnFoster (from http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=25315&start=30) made his Fauchet electric car out of 1/8" plywood using a stitch and glue boat building technique. http://fauchet.tripod.com/
Stitch-and-glue seems like a construction method that is quite useful: it requires no specialized tools, no mold (unlike fiberglass), little skill/experience, cheap materials. We'll find out shortly.
(Will add image credits once the notation system is fixed)
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I'm not so enthusiastic about the canted front wheels though - will be better for loading on the outside wheel in a turn, but even worse for the inside wheel. The inside still bears weight - you won't transfer really all that much weight, even at the limit of traction.
Also to help keep the CG closer to the front wheels I put the battery pack in the nose, doesn't look like you have much space, or are you going pedal only?
May kWh ride was fun. Zenon had his "future mobile" and I had my "retro mobile". +~10 other 2 wheelers.
Later, John
I'd like to visit your workshop when you have time to start. Also I have a lot of bike & other parts if you want to come over & grab some junk. I (& the Fauchet) live on Powell near Main, DTES Vancouver. I did use bike forks as struts - the black foam at the Maker Faire was just to hold it up because the air seals leak. Not sure about the side loads; since I have 26" wheels on narrow hubs I corner very slowly. We will have to have a race when you get on the road! Or at least a rally - I'm organizing the May kWh ride. I want to see your improvement on my pound-a-brella.
Later,
John
If you would like to donate to this project you can send a donation with paypal to parkhigley6@gmail.com Thank you for reading
Some electric tractors have a solar roof that doubles as its own garage/sun protactin/rain protection. Just park it in the sun and it charges itself.
Tim Anderson made a neat self-charging vehicle. http://www.instructables.com/id/SolarWelder/
BONUS: Electric vehicles can double as a mobile DC welder!
I'm curious to a few things: Do you plan to have more than one drive wheel? Is the driver going to be the only person faced with a set of pedals? Will the pedal operated part of it have gears like a mountain bike?
p.s. The Tonbrella joke gave me a good little chuckle, just thought I'd say so.
Excellent questions! I'll see if I can answer some.
Weight: The wooden monocoque body will probably be around 50 lbs. The wheels could add another 30 lbs or so depending on what I use. I have an old dirtbike back wheel and swing arm for extra strength but a hefty mountain bike swing arm and wheel might work fine at much less weight. The motor I'll start off with is about 10 lbs and the battery is about 9 lbs. So 50 + 30 + 10 + 9 = 99. Somehow I think it's going to get a little heavier though once I add cup holders etc. Later on I plan to upgrade to a Crystalyte 5403 motor at 27 lbs but for now I'm starting small.
How did I go finding struts that'd work for the suspension on something so small and light? Well, I haven't yet. If I can't source anything I'll have to steer away from the MacPherson strut design to something like a trailing arm system or a double wishbone. I'd like to keep it light and simple. I'm thinking I'll try out using half a mountain bike fork on each side as the main strut. This should match the weight requirements more or less. The only problem is I'm not sure about the rotational and off axis loading. Otherwise I might try a motorbike fork or a strut from a very small car/dunebuggy. I think the original wooden car I saw used a bit of closed cell foam sandwiched between two disks as the suspension. It kind of worked.
Drive wheel: I intend to drive with the single rear wheel just like a bike. For those trying this with an electric hub motor, beware of shearing off the freewheel threads on the aluminum side cover. I've seen it happen when there's too much power put through the chain. This is one reason I'm starting with a rear motorcycle wheel; it's strong and meant to take more power than this vehicle should ever see.
Pedals: I hope to have both people in front pedaling using two or three sets of crank arms ganged together in a "W" arrangement. like this guy: http://youtu.be/4LljkekeDD4?t=15m3s
But initially I will have one set of pedals. And yes, I intend to have fairly high and low gears.
Yes, I'm glad you like my tonbrella gag. Maybe this will seem like more of a joke if/when gasoline is expensive like in that classic Australian movie The Roadwarrior.
Anyways, I'm back at school now so please don't wait for me. Go grab a jigsaw and make your own! I'll race ya. Just make sure to share lots of pictures with us.
Weight wise, don't forget about the weight of brackets for the motor and battery, or the seat, there's always a lighter material. No less that's not a bad weight. I don't know much of monocoque structural designs and strut suspension. I own an old 4WD ute, with solid axles and separate chassis, if I'm not mistaken, some primitive forms of suspension that've been known to work well (for their era, being back at horse drawn carriages) were sometimes bowed timber (similar to a leaf spring) or even thick leather straps with the axle/beam held tight between the strips. Not sure how successful it may be, but with such little weight compared to even classic automobiles, some planned improvision may at least be fun to play with. My design, due to my knowledge was hence far heavier than yours. I'll see how I go with some new ideas, as you've given me plenty of them. Also, have you considered making a proper framed roof, an aluminium frame and canvas would likely not ruin the look too much I'm sure.