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FREE-TRIPPER

Thanks for the opening comment SIXTEN, and that too from THE PRO! Well let me see how I can take this fwd! Will post something soon!

55 minutes ago by neo

Maneki Neko : Picollo Turismo

Hey Alex, you hit the idea right on the head. Unfortunately I got buried at work and pulling together a grad school application for Art Center so had to put this on hold, but wanted to get a teaser out. Plan is to crank away on this over the weekend.

My idea is a modern interpretation of the Morgan 3-wheeler. By reducing the mass of the car, possibly utilizing a carbon fiber cockpit, I think we could get down to around 500-600kg which would put it half the weight of a Mini Cooper and could help offset the additional weight of a larger battery system for getting around town. It’s a hybrid, not fully electric but my thought is to maximize the battery range in town to both minimize pollution and reduce engine noise to make it easier to spot bicycles as per the brief.
MN:PT would also feature a kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) boost button similar to an F1 car, for some added fun.

http://youtu.be/-_4GZD N6eyU

Being smaller and more open will also help a lot at spotting bicycles, so another game changer is to break from the “safety/weight” race that most auto manufacturers got sucked into and use aesthetics, as a safety feature. Pretty simple idea, make the car more visible and you’re less likely to crash into it.

That got me thinking of ways to expand that idea and as ridiculous as it may sound, I thought of Transformers.

So the idea is that the car would be a platform for a users personal avatar. Things like lighting, facial expressions (headlight aperture, front spoiler position), tail expressions (rear spoiler position) could adapt to the user. Also, using a smart phone camera you could use facial recognition software to auto unlock the car and prevent “bad things” from happening.

If all this sounds a bit out there, go ahead and check out BMW’s Project Gina and Connected Drive concepts
http://youtu.be/kTYiEk QYhWY
http://youtu.be/gL-KDU _Sq1c

The game changer is basically turn city car sharing, into a game.

1 hour ago by Boyerizm

ECO Three Wheel RunaBout

Eric, your entry is one of the few that really motivates me or if not, inspires me. I'm really glad to notes how serious you're taking this beautiful project of yours.

1 hour ago by buCARsa

Amsterdam

Thanks all of you guys, really good comments out here.
Just uploaded new images about the protective cover direction.
What are your thoughts on that?

2 hours ago by InsideDriven

EV "People's Car" Layout

Current component ideas:
-4 A123 Energy Packs for 92kwh built into the floor.
-4 wheel drive with GKN eTransmission in front and rear and TBD motor (Remy?)
-What does everyone think of double wishbone in the front and rear?
-What are the drawbacks of this approach, suspension experts? How would you package a GKN eTransmission with a transaxle? Can the eTransmssion/motor/suspe nsion all be designed as one configurable assembly?
-Elithion is coming out with a new BMS called the Lithiumotive. It is robust sealed and I think it works with a CAN bus?
-What about thermally formed carbon fiber? I know its used on the Rally Fighter . Is it hella expensive? Could you have the belly of the vehicle be made of it? Could that belly holds the battery packs? Could you drop it out to swap energy packs?
-What about motor sizing? Inverter sizing? What are the drawbacks of having a single inverter power two motors in parallel?

5 hours ago by samsamjr

EV "People's Car" Layout

Ya, so right now I have some boxes in the floor representing the batteries. I haven't been able to get the actual dimension of an Energy Pack from A123 yet. I can only approximate it based on the size of the pouch cells. As I go along (all be it slowly... I work 60 hours a week and go to grad school) I will add models for other components and update footprint sizes. Note that I am using Rally Fighter control arms. The final model will likely have different components. I'd like input on this site on what components to use and how to lay things out.

5 hours ago by samsamjr

Maneki Neko : Picollo Turismo

Tell us more about this design. I like the shape you have developed so far. You mention car sharing, and a personal Avatar. Does this mean that whenever you enter any of these cars, it personalizes itself to you according to your settings? This is a really god move because it makes the user identify more with the car, thus making them less likely to treat it poorly, which is the danger with public vehicles. Anyway, tell more about what the advantages are to this vehicle.

5 hours ago by AlexFi

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