Lawrence Rhodes via EV wrote:
I think this is a work in progress. If you remember John Wayland his Blue Meanie and
White Zombie have had many revisions. So far Stella& the Solar Taxi are the best
examples of viable vehicles. You could start with a moped speed vehicle at 2kw and
work your way up to a road going vehicle. 3 kw is 4hp. You can do a lot with 4 hp.
But you have to tow. Stella uses 1.5kw but is very efficient. It is no doubt doable
but your vehicle must be aero and have a good aerodynamic connection to the trailer. A
very aerodynamic& light vehicle could easily have a 100 mile range with 10kw.
Maybe more like 200 if everything is perfect. If you had 3kw at your disposal you
could charge in a little over 3 hours or extend your day time range. In this arena
lighter is better but area on top is important. Stella does not look aerodynamic. It
looks like a van that has been squashed. It is relatively wide and long but if you
look at the side view it looks very teardrop like in it's
side p
rofile. Since it consumes 55wh per mile it is indeed very aerodynamic. It has
a 375 mile range on 16kw without the solar panel...but being greedy I want
every free watt of energy I can get. I'm envisioning a kind of RV like vehicle
with a towed solar panel. I probably can't afford the super efficient tires,
wheels and motors that Stella uses. The Solar Taxi has old technology and is
not that efficient. But the goal is on average to use no grid energy to
charge. On long trips that will probably be unavoidable. Lawrence Rhodes....
That's the spirit, Lawrence! Everything is "impossible" until someone
goes off and does it. ;-)
So, listen to all the experts, saying what the problems are, and what's
been tried so far to deal with them. Maybe there are still some things
to be tried.
In our BEST program (www.bestoutreach.com), we mentor 4th-6th grade
students to build electric vehicles. We don't give them kits or plans or
parts or money. They're limited to a maximum of $100. They *invent*
their own solutions, do their own experiments, *scrounge up* the parts,
*build* their prototypes, and *test* it for themselves.
Adults have a hard time with this concept. They assume that since they
can't build a car out of scrap for $100, it must be impossible for the
kids to do it. Yet year after year, they do it!
I've seen cars made almost entirely out of cardboard. I've seen a bed
turned into a car. I've seen cars that move using propellers. I've seen
a 2-wheel self-balancing Segway-like car that worked without computers
and gyroscopes. I've seen cars with 9 wheels, none of which can steer
(they leaned to put different sets of wheels on the ground to turn). All
designed by kids that didn't know it couldn't be done!
It makes me think long and hard before saying something is impossible.
Hmmm... maybe we should start a contest. Give each team of students one
particular make/model of solar panel, and see who can go the farthest
and fastest solely on the power it provides. :-)
--
Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing
it. (Chinese proverb)
--
Lee Hart, 814 8th Ave N, Sartell MN 56377, www.sunrise-ev.com
_______________________________________________
UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org
For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA
(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
