This has nothing to do with autism, I just thought the picture was a big guffaw!

http://www.care2.com/causes/build-your-o...nt-2386013

Although with a top speed of 30kph, it wouldn't be safe on the roads, and as a powered vehicle, it couldn't be driven on the bike or footpath.  So I don't see that it'd be a great deal of use...but yeah, the picture's funny!

Alison

I love this stuff!  Very cool, thanks for the find.

I've always been interested in converting a car to electric.  I've mapped out the costs, parts, and materials I'd need before.

It's actually rather practical to take a light-duty front-wheel drive manual transmission pick-up truck, convert part of the bed for battery storage and drop an electric motor with coupling onto the transmission.  Convert the accelerator.  Leave it in gear, drop off the stick, and use the e-brake for parking.  You're ready to go.

Kits for this are tad expensive but if you buy the parts individually, you can do the conversion for as little as $5,000 and your can get on the highway just fine.  Though if you want to do solar panels that might change things a bit.  Also, you have to buy a used truck first, best ones to use are Japanese trucks.

This post was last modified: 08-08-2011 12:46 PM by mdr.

We have a design at home for the most crucial part, the controller. It will be available as a self build kit form or built one of these days. I know exactly how to do it, but since it is a likely business, I won't give away very much. My wife died about the same time we prepared the engineering diagrams. The main comment I will make, voltage is the key to range and performance.

AC induction?  SVC design?  Voltage stability?  

First to market man, also get your patents in-line.  I hate the patent system but the way that our current economic environment works, if you don't get your patent, you'll get raped by companies with more resources very quickly.

Cool. Did you know that the next World Solar Challenge (a solar vehicle race in Australia over some 3000 km from Darwin to Adelaide) is about to start at the 16th of october? Those are advanced solar powered vehicles. They are a bit more expensive to build though.

Cool, I'll have one!  Not the bike, the half-naked guy in back (*drool*).  I wonder if he's got an older brother at home?
LOL
Alison

ROFL

Wooden scooters? That's nothing, I know of a man in Venice who has a wooden car. And it's waterproof too!
Livio de Marchi

The Conference Bike, or CoBi, perfect for those who can't bear to be separated while on the go!  

http://conferencebike.com/

I can see it now: the main group, too busy talking to peddle, and a quiet little Aspie at the back, managing to peddle and steer at the same time...
Alison

This post was last modified: 02-04-2012 02:45 PM by Alison.

A dutch company has made solar cells more efficient by reducing the amount of reflected light. Normal (blue) cells reflect up to 40% of the incoming light. A newly develloped coating 'traps' almost all the light in the solar cell. Read about it here.