http://www.sherwoodparknews.com/2013/07/12/a-hawk-made-with-lithium A hawk made with lithium By Trent Wilkie July 12, 2013
[image / Trent Wilkie/Sherwood Park News/QMI Agency http://storage.canoe.ca/v1/dynamic_resize/sws_path/suns-prod-images/1297441443653_ORIGINAL.jpg?quality=100&size=900x&stmp=1373644209885 Pepin and his wife Leslie ride the Lithium Hawk in the recent Sherwood Park Canada Day parade ] Nap Pepin is what some would call a hobby inventor, but according to the man himself, he just likes to build things. Having driven his three wheeled electronic bike, the Lithium Hawk, in the most recent Sherwood Park Canada Day parade, one would think the bike itself would prove his inventor moniker. According to Pepin, just because you believe it, doesn’t make it true. “NAIT profiled me a couple years ago as one of 20 graduates that they consider to be inventors,” Pepin said. “Some people think I am because I’ve built a lot of stuff, but I’ve never brought anything to the market; I’ve never tried. “I’m an electronics engineering technologist, but I have these various hobbies where I like to build different things.” Jokingly, Pepin stated that his day job sometimes distracts him from his building, but it is something that he has been doing since he was a kid and, no having to make ends meet will get in the way of his passion. “Most of my projects are electronic based, I do lot of re-finishing and restoration stuff,” he said. “I learned how to weld as I built a lot of go-karts as a kid. I’ve built a couple of electric vehicles in the last few years, but I’ve wanted to take them to a different level of performance. “About four years ago I wanted to build an electric vehicle, but I didn’t want to start from scratch and build my own platform” After building from a kit called the Bug-e, Pepin was unhappy with the way the vehicle was very light and low-tech overall, so he focused on creating something with a bit more prudence and handling. “The whole point was to learn from that,” Pepin explained. “Then, I wanted to build a similar vehicle that would be a lot more robust, had a great suspension system, a lot heavier — on purpose — for the stability and just a lot more high-tech. So, I spent a lot more money and I designed and built the Lithium Hawk from the ground up.” Pepin knew his limitations, in money and in time, so he contracted out the basic frame. Although he has the strategic art of tig welding under his belt, he decided to use a Honda Goldwing rear-end suspension for the Hawk, so Pepin worked with the company to build the frame to his specifications. After receiving the fabricated frame, he realized that he still needed changes to the frame, he ended up chopping it and building the front suspension by himself. This included the drive system and the battery pack, which after designing and writing the software for it took close to six months to build. As for the safety of the vehicle, Pepin is proud of the legwork it took to get everything above board. After having investigators sent to his garage, getting the vehicle fully certified, developing a relationship with safety section of Alberta Transportation and getting the proper legislation it took to get the vehicle on the road, Pepin was set to jet. According to Pepin the power source is a 16 kw/h lithium battery pack which will typically go over 200 hours. It does zero to 60 mph in seven seconds, but is software limited to a top speed of 170 km/h with an equivalent fuel economy of 0.08 liters per kilometer or 360 miles per gallon. “It depends on how much money you want to spend and how heavy you want to make the vehicle,” Pepin said. “I could make it go longer, but then I’d probably be pulling around another 400 pounds. So it is a bit of diminishing returns after a while.” As for something that stands out in his own mind about what he has done, Pepin had to think about it, but eventually said: “I think I’m the only individual in North America to build a cylindrical cell lithium battery pack, because it’s not easy to do in your garage.” [© 2013 Sherwood Park News] ... http://www.nappepin.com/LithiumHawk.htm LITHIUM HAWK by Nap Pepin ... [image http://www.nappepin.com/LithiumHawk/Lithium_Hawk_small.jpg Component location video http://www.nappepin.com/LithiumHawk/MVI_1665.MOV 29Mb mov file ] For all EVLN posts use: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/template/NamlServlet.jtp?macro=search_page&node=413529&query=evln&sort=date Here are today's archive-only EV posts: EVLN: 2013 looks to be a good year for EVs EVLN: swinburne.edu.au L3 CHAdeMO EVSE using ChargePoint rfid card EVLN: GM Lipservice, 'Transition To Electric Cars Underway' EVLN: Mahindra (Reva) e20 to be rolled out in Nepal by 10/2013 + EVLN: 1959's EV of Tomorrow Looks Awfully Like Today's {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-Pepin-s-3wheeled-Lithium-Hawk-EV-ts-170kph-0-100kph-7s-tp4664226.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.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)
