Feasability of going from gas to only electric

[Erasmo]

I'd suggest that fast food restaurants are a prime candidate, if they install DC charging you should be ready to go once you finished your burger. Some charging networks are happy to lease a parking space to plonk a charger one.

But even a regular charging station or even a 14-50 socket would give them an edge over their competitor next door if you want to lure EV customers.

Also if I see a business that is about to rebuild I always shoot them an email or a tweet to nudge them to not to forget to install a charger. It isn't successful most of the times but I've had quite a few that didn't realise that it was the perfect moment to add one and went ahead with it.

So spread the word everywhere you go and start creating demand!

[elhigh]

Originally Posted by sendler

I thought I was radical enough riding a streamlined motorcycle all over the country but you guys are nuts to think you can get away with running a homemade pusher trailer on public highways.

What if it wasn't homemade? There are already articulated buses in which the engine is in the aft section, that's a pusher trailer. I know we're all about the economizing here but now we're talking about a device to make electric vehicle ownership more palatable. Would a professionally engineered, mass-market system be more to your liking? Is it just the homebuilt nature of the solution that is tripping you up?

I've read at least one account of a homebrew pusher and that guy started with a pusher that used a manual transmission! The clutch was actuated by a homemade servo consisting of some all-thread and a cordless drill. Check it out: http://www.evalbum.com/304

[sendler]

No NY DMV inspector will ever give you a plate for a homemade pusher trailer.

[freebeard]

That's not a pusher trailer problem, that's a New York DMV problem. Other states wouldn't even require a plate unless they weigh >1500lb.


This Prototype Motorcycle Represented A Gloriously Backwards Future

Too bad the wrecking yards aren't full of these. 3-cylinder 600cc w/ 2-speeed transmission. This could be implemented as I showed with the stored position looking like a Continental kit.

[teknomage2012]

the best deal in solar tiles to cover your car and offset the parasitic 12vdc loads is these 22.5% efficient semi flexiable laminated panels, glued down with self leveling rv roof cement or high quality UV stable greenhouse repair tape:

18v 18w solar panel semi flexible charger & usb for Battery Caravan Camping home | eBay

when shopping for your pay attention to the wire output bump, you dont want it on the bottom, and you dont want it to be great big with oversized wire, think petite....

[sendler]

I think every state has inspection and registration of trailers. I would hope.

[Xist]

Originally Posted by Isaac Zackary

The best part was that my sweet wife was completely against the idea until she sat in the vehicle. Then she decided that we needed this car.

I gotta get me one of those!

[jray3]

Originally Posted by elhigh

.. Is it just the homebuilt nature of the solution that is tripping you up?
...a pusher that used a manual transmission! The clutch was actuated by a homemade servo consisting of some all-thread and a cordless drill. ]

My homebuilt pusher trailer was state inspected in.... CALIFORNIA! (in 1996, IIRC, after JB Straubel's original build)

JB experimented with a servo motor and lead screw for accelerator control, and I added an automotive seat adjustment drive for the clutch, but simply towing it around town in Neutral and jumping out to shift into 4th at the top of an on ramp was easy enough. Throttle was locked near wide open, and any extra power was scrubbed off with regen. However, the engine overheated on a rare 110 degree day in August, and I've retired that pusher to the Historic Electric Vehicle Foundation collection.

My next pusher has been through a State of WA homebuilt trailer inspection. It has a wedge body rather than the car carcass...

[freebeard]

Originally Posted by sendler

I think every state has inspection and registration of trailers. I would hope.

When it was time to renew my [23ft] 1952 Silver Streak, I walked up to the counter of the Oregon DMV and told them I'd gutted the plumbing and appliances and they dropped the registration fee from $more to $20/yr. Sight unseen.

[Isaac Zackary]

Originally Posted by Erasmo

I'd suggest that fast food restaurants are a prime candidate, if they install DC charging you should be ready to go once you finished your burger. Some charging networks are happy to lease a parking space to plonk a charger one.

But even a regular charging station or even a 14-50 socket would give them an edge over their competitor next door if you want to lure EV customers.

Also if I see a business that is about to rebuild I always shoot them an email or a tweet to nudge them to not to forget to install a charger. It isn't successful most of the times but I've had quite a few that didn't realise that it was the perfect moment to add one and went ahead with it.

So spread the word everywhere you go and start creating demand!

That would be great in an inhabited part of the country! But out here there aren't too many towns, let alone businesses. On some barren roads there may be a gasoline station or two. They'd be about my only hope. On PlugShare I think there's only one place to plug in through all of South Park, and if I remember right it's a 120V outlet. With what's on Plugshare I might make it from here to Denver on a few charges along the way, but the distances between some of them would be pushing the limits of the Leaf's range.

If I did do a trailer of some sort it could be used for just those last few miles where the Leaf didn't make it. Then charge up from the next Level 2 and keep going. It would turn a 4 hour drive into a 12-16 hour drive, depending on how many charges I end up needing.

Originally Posted by teknomage2012

the best deal in solar tiles to cover your car and offset the parasitic 12vdc loads is these 22.5% efficient semi flexiable laminated panels, glued down with self leveling rv roof cement or high quality UV stable greenhouse repair tape:

18v 18w solar panel semi flexible charger & usb for Battery Caravan Camping home | eBay

when shopping for your pay attention to the wire output bump, you dont want it on the bottom, and you dont want it to be great big with oversized wire, think petite....

Solar really has me intrigued. Also an extended range battery. I do think I'd rather weigh the pros and cons of keeping it all-electric before resorting to combustion. I've thought about plastering my whole roof in solar cells and then charging the 12V system off of it. And then charge a separate 12V battery that then, when at a certain voltage, could charge my traction battery when I'm parked via a 120V inverter and a dissected EVSE. It probably wouldn't help a lot, but I could get a few kW hours out of it. The problem is keeping it streamlined and not affect the aerodynamic shape of the Leaf.

A solar trailer or even solar panels made to fit in the trunk are also on my investigation menu. If I could make something that produces around to 6.6kW in direct sunlight I could have my own portable charging station. There would be several technical difficulties with such a design, but definitely possible.

Originally Posted by sendler

I think every state has inspection and registration of trailers. I would hope.

Sadly no. I've had family members almost kill themselves with their homemade trailers. Here in Colorado anyone can go in and ask for a VIN plate and a license plate for their trailer and go. No inspection.