Road legal Electrathon?

[JennyB]

Ultralight EV, like a velomobile without pedals, but with batteries and charger light enough to take inside and charge anywhere. Say a 2kw limit on the charger not to pop any breakers. That means in theory that you could rest while charging and travel 12 hours in a day using 2kw average power or 16 hours at 1kw.

How far could you go in 24 hours?

 

[parajared]

Now it may not seem it at first but you are talking about two totally different things in the same paragraph. What is doable and what is viable are two completely different animals.

You could squeeze yourself into a solar racer or full faired recumbent and get her done racer style....

but a viable (less expensive, actually comfortable) alternative would be to just hop in a golf cart a la' "The Straight Story (1999)" style or recumbent bike across the country Justin Le style.

 

[JennyB]

Now it may not seem it at first but you are talking about two totally different things in the same paragraph. What is doable and what is viable are two completely different animals.

You could squeeze yourself into a solar racer or full faired recumbent and get her done racer style.... but a viable (less expensive, actually comfortable) alternative would be to just hop in a golf cart a la' "The Straight Story (1999)" style or recumbent bike across the country Justin Le style.

Well, the very best Electrathon team running on an oval might manage close to 1,000 miles in 24 hours, but I'm wondering could more practical vehicles with the same power usage manage in a reliability trial on the open road, full charge to full charge. What would be challenging but viable? 300 miles? 400?

 

[agniusm]

I consider Blue Sky electrathon to be of most beautiful design:

I was too thinking if they are legal anywhere?

 

[Dauntless]

In the U.S. you build it with 3 wheels and it's a motorcycle, no airbags required. Give it pedals and it can be a moped if it stays under 30mph.

As far as full freeway speed 4 wheelers that are light -- Good luck.

 

[mvly]

I consider Blue Sky electrathon to be of most beautiful design:

I was too thinking if they are legal anywhere?

Wow that is a clean design. Too bad it doesn't support pedals so I doubt it will be legal on the road in the US. Maybe we can put fake pedals?

Ultimately if you keep your speed low enough and stay on the bike lane, I doubt the cops will give you too much trouble.

Now you got me thinking about something in the line of blueskydsn, but using a trike as a base and going 200 miles a day @ 30mph. Just hope the cost is low enough.

 

[bobc]

JennyB,
the UK version of electrothon is called greenpower & they just had their first race at nutts corner in NI. Check out their website at www.greenpower.co.uk
I help a local team & agree that with these things doing the equivalent of over 3000mpg at 33mph average, there should be a way of using the technology on the roads (it's not hard stuff, schoolkids do it after all)
My version of this is a faired recumbent trike, not a full velomobile (too noisy & hot & poor visibility for pothole avoidance) which, with the legal 25kph limit should be good for 5000mpg or so equivalent. By making it an e-assist trike, not a kit car, you avoid SVA (IVA) MOT, insurance, registration, roadtax, windscreen, wipers, demist, reverse etc.etc. and retain the bike/trike flexibility freedom & lightness

 

[bobc]

BTW agnuism, that's actually a pretty poor design....
most important area for aero is the back end where they've just done nothing, and they have external front wheels. Amateurs.
Sure - it looks nice, does it win? (oooooo that was harsh....

 

[wheelbender6]

I didn't realize that Electrathon vehicles had no pedals.
I also didn't realize Electrathon contestants are restricted to SLA batteries - No lipo.
Competing in the Electrathon would be fun, but I would probably prefer something that could be pedaled to stretch battery life, like the HPV.

 

[Drunkskunk]

If they had races here in Texas, I would very much be into this. I've got a design in mind for a suspension system that would be perfect for something like this.

 

[agniusm]

BTW agnuism, that's actually a pretty poor design....
most important area for aero is the back end where they've just done nothing, and they have external front wheels. Amateurs.
Sure - it looks nice, does it win? (oooooo that was harsh....

...thats what I meant, it looks good. In the end the discution began about road legal car and from my viewpoint it has to be equally good looking. For me its 33/33/33 looks/efficiency/practicality. BTW they done something to the back end:

I know little about aero, sure it is incomparable with your baby with in-hub steering, carbon fibre body and so much work spent on simulations of aero. Wish I had time and capacity to do at least some.

 

[ProEV]

Hi Everyone,

Wheelbender6: The Advanced Battery class allows Lipos with a pack limit of 1 kWhrs. We are running Kokams.

bobc: Greenpower rules are slightly different from Electrathon rules. On tight parking lot tracks, the better grip we get with the wider track seem worth more than keeping the track narrow enough to fit it under the body work. Speeds are slower, so Aero is less important. On the other hand, the current record of 62.05 miles in one hour from 950 Watt-hrs was set on an huge oval with the wheels under the bodywork. http://www.electrathonamerica.org/News.html.

Many teams build their cars from scratch but Blue Sky offers a well developed chassis that allows teams to get out and race and improve from there. We are running the 'Super Coupe' version which is the same bodywork cut to decrease frontal area.

 

[parabellum]

Hi Everyone,

Wheelbender6: The Advanced Battery class allows Lipos with a pack limit of 1 kWhrs. We are running Kokams.

bobc: Greenpower rules are slightly different from Electrathon rules. On tight parking lot tracks, the better grip we get with the wider track seem worth more than keeping the track narrow enough to fit it under the body work. Speeds are slower, so Aero is less important. On the other hand, the current record of 62.05 miles in one hour from 950 Watt-hrs was set on an huge oval with the wheels under the bodywork. http://www.electrathonamerica.org/News.html.

Many teams build their cars from scratch but Blue Sky offers a well developed chassis that allows teams to get out and race and improve from there. We are running the 'Super Coupe' version which is the same bodywork cut to decrease frontal area.

They used Lead Acid to do that. Amazing!