Lawrence started a similar thread, inspired by the Stella solar vehicle, back in September.
http://www.evdl.org/archive/index.html#nabble-td4671785|a4671794 He received pretty much the same replies then as now. This is a big assignment. We're talking about a 900lb 2-passenger (or is it 4-passenger?) vehicle that reportedly runs on 55Wh/mi. That's about 2.5 to 3 times my ebike's energy use, but the Stella weighs in at 18 times the bike's mass! It's also rolling on 4 wheels instead of 2. I know a car is more aerodynamic than a bike, but that's going to require some mighty skillful tweaking. The other problem is building an EV that light that's reliable enough to be a daily driver. I'm going to disregard the safety issues for now - who wants to build one just to crash test? And hey, while we're dreaming, how about one that can keep on motoring through the midwest's sustained cloud cover? We have a lot of grey skies here in Ohio. ;-) IMO, a self-sustaining solar EV inspired by the Stella isn't impossible for a hobbyist to build, but it's apt to be a lengthy, difficult, and expensive effort. That said, I'd really like to see Lawrence tackle this. I hope to someday be able to go out there and check it out. David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA EVDL Administrator = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = EVDL Information: http://www.evdl.org/help/ = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Note: mail sent to "evpost" and "etpost" addresses will not reach me. To send a private message, please obtain my email address from the webpage http://www.evdl.org/help/ . = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = _______________________________________________ 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)
