The concept of this project was to design and build a vehicle, which is a hybrid between a bicycle, a motorcycle, a car, and a dynamo. Pedal power creates electricity through the design, by pedaling and charging the batteries with magnetic generators and a gear reducer, which turbo charges the speed at which the generators spin. I was asked to come up with designs on how this vehicle was to look, perform, and function. The main constraints were weight, size, the requirement that this was to be a three wheel vehicle.
After doing research on the history of three wheeled vehicles, electric technologies, as well as materials. I deducted that this vehicle should weigh around 800 lbs max, so the material whould have to be light, the batteries and motor should achieve highway speeds, be plug in, solar, regenerative brake and human powered generation of the batteries.
Carbon fiber with a foam core seemed to be the logical solution for the body and chassis. Since it is light, and strong. The vehicle would have a rear wheel drive, hub mounted electric motor, which could propel the vehicle to the desired speeds and desired distance.
The early design stage starred in Fall of 2010. And has evolved since then on the quest to build this vehicle.
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