Electrification?

How do you intend to drive the motor? High energy batteries come in two
types: Very heavy and very expensive!

- -

"May you have the wind at your back.
And a really low gear for the hills!"

Chris Zacho ~ "Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

Chris'Z Corner
http://www.geocities.com/czcorner

Chris Zacho "The Wheelman" <[email hidden]> wrote:
: How do you intend to drive the motor? High energy batteries come in two
: types: Very heavy and very expensive!
--I've got a pair of solar panels for a fairly good trickle
charge during daylight; I'll have a generator backup nearby so I'll be
able to hook up a normal battery charger for an hour or so per day. I plan
to use a single deep-cycle 12-V battery, i.e. "heavy"; another reason I
opted for 4 wheels instead of 3. The motor is fairly efficient;
it's a Lemco L-130.

--
"Steamboat Ed" Haas : Just another fart in
Hacking the Trailing Edge! : the Elevator of Life...
http://www.nmpproducts.com/intro.htm
---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---

steamer <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

--Thinking about putting an electric motor on a homebrew
quad-cycle; has anyone been there/done that? Any pointers appreciated...

I think you'll find this group has done there/been that:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/power-assist/

Jeff

Jeff Wills said:

steamer <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

--Thinking about putting an electric motor on a homebrew
quad-cycle; has anyone been there/done that? Any pointers appreciated...

I think you'll find this group has done there/been that:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/power-assist/

Jeff

I think the legal advantages of a trike implementation likely outweigh the technical advantages of a quad.

Generally, a non-motorized vehicle exception has been carved out for low power electric bikes and trikes in which they are legally classified as non-motorized vehicles and hence follow the same laws as bicycle. Common litmus tests include electric mode max of 20 mph and/or 400W motor. A few states have higher thresholds. No exception exists for quads.

However, it appears you are in CA, where the state legislature defined electric bikes in a separate category between bicycles and mopeds and on NON-federally funded biketrails separate from roadways. (A federal statute from 2001 which was prompted by California’s law stopped states from restricting electric bikes on federally funded bike trails).

I’m seeing about 2 electric quadrabents a month popping up on ebay so they are not that obscure.

Rhoades Car has electric models/options: http://www.rhoadescar.com/jumpshow.htm

Here’s a current ebay sociable trike with Zap electric motor, it’d be easy to implement that electrification as a quad.

cgi.ebay.comeBayISAPI.dllOpen ↗

Besides the powerassist group Jeff gave you, here are two smaller sites with more focus on four wheel electric vehicles:

austinev.orgevalbumOpen ↗

autos.groups.yahoo.comev list archiveOpen ↗

(I’m currently getting an error on the Austin ev group link that appears merely to be their server down, but the link/group may not be current)

Here’s another useful link:
electric-bikes.comphysics.htmOpen ↗

steamer <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

--Thinking about putting an electric motor on a homebrew
quad-cycle; has anyone been there/done that? Any pointers appreciated...

Very curious, how are you suspending the wheels? I'm desiging a
utility trike for my personal usage. I want it to be able to carry
~100 lbs of stuff. I can see some advantages to a 4 wheel over 3, but
it seems to me that 4 wheels would require suspension, where as 3
wouldn't. Four wheels of shocks & mountings adds a lot of complexity &
weight.
Your thoughts, thanks John

--No suspension; got front end design from Atomic Zombie's book;
got back end off of a Schwinn 3-wheeler; connected the two assys with an
over-under truss made of two 1" dia tubes with a strut or two for
stability. Not much more to it at the moment.. Remember this thing is
primarily intended for show, not for efficiency, so to speak; I'm going
electric because I've been to BM on a good mountain bike and, basically,
it's sooo *big* an area to explore I didn't have time to cover it all on
the bike! I figure a quadcycle with electric assist or even primary drive
will give me the "stamina" to endure, heh. I'm 58 and in decent, but
not great shape (waddle, waddle!). The "show" aspect of the thing will
derive from battery powered electroluminescent wire which will adorn an
armature of wire; maybe 3/16" dia steel that will define an outer shape,
or shell, so that, at night, it will appear to be something it's not, heh.

--
"Steamboat Ed" Haas : Just another fart in
Hacking the Trailing Edge! : the Elevator of Life...
http://www.nmpproducts.com/intro.htm
---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---

--"Legal" ain't a problem; I'm taking this to Nevada's high desert
and using it to get around an area where the laws are somewhat
non-standard, heh.

--
"Steamboat Ed" Haas : Just another fart in
Hacking the Trailing Edge! : the Elevator of Life...
http://www.nmpproducts.com/intro.htm
---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---

steamer said:

--No suspension; got front end design from Atomic Zombie's book;
got back end off of a Schwinn 3-wheeler; connected the two assys with an
over-under truss made of two 1" dia tubes with a strut or two for
stability. Not much more to it at the moment.. Remember this thing is
primarily intended for show, not for efficiency, so to speak; I'm going
electric because I've been to BM on a good mountain bike and, basically,
it's sooo *big* an area to explore I didn't have time to cover it all on
the bike! I figure a quadcycle with electric assist or even primary drive
will give me the "stamina" to endure, heh. I'm 58 and in decent, but
not great shape (waddle, waddle!). The "show" aspect of the thing will
derive from battery powered electroluminescent wire which will adorn an
armature of wire; maybe 3/16" dia steel that will define an outer shape,
or shell, so that, at night, it will appear to be something it's not, heh.

--
"Steamboat Ed" Haas : Just another fart in
Hacking the Trailing Edge! : the Elevator of Life...
http://www.nmpproducts.com/intro.htm
---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---

Here's an electrified tadpole with 15KW motor that is probably capable of doing BM like speeds.

cgi.ebay.comeBayISAPI.dllOpen ↗