When GreenHornet mentioned R.Q. Riley in
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post463224 I wondered what they had done lately, and saw their XR3 plug-in hybrid. I went from the 128 MPG Centurion to the 125 MPG three-wheeled XR3, although that is without the hybrid system. It seemed curious that you would remove a wheel, taper it greatly, and lose 3 MPG. I read:
Quote:
Figure about 500 - 650 hours of build time[...] Much of the time is in building the body. The simple chassis goes quickly. Construction costs are also variable [...]
At the upper end, a duplicate of our Li-Ion-powered prototype will top $25,000. If you switch to lead-acid batteries, you can save as much as $5,000, but you'll have to forego the performance of advanced batteries. At the bottom end of the scale, a diesel-only vehicle capable of achieving 125-mpg can be built for less than $10,000.
|
Mass-producing something should make it less expensive than something made individually, right? However, if you do something yourself, then you "save money," right?
If it costs almost ten thousand dollars to make a three-wheeler by yourself, $6,800 seems impossible.
So, 500-650 hours. If you work on it for forty hours a week, it would take 12.5-16.25 weeks. If you were paid the minimum wage for that amount of time, in Arizona, you would earn $8.05 hourly, 322 dollars per week, and earn $4,025-$5,235.5 for labor on one tadpole vehicle.
Well, I have nothing else to do...