Quote:
Originally Posted by bikin' Ed
I've been in the planning stages of something like this for a while. My ideas include: leave everything under the hood where it is--no hassle heat, charging system, brakes, etc; taper starting right after the B pillar--making the back seat just one place; drive the rear wheel with an electric motor.
I've got to believe 75 mpg using only the ICE and another 30-40 with the electric.
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Why would this particular <very cool, I like it> three-wheeled contraption get better FE than the same Metro with 4 wheels?
Thinking out loud here, one less wheel bearing, and one less rotating mass, a little less overall weight <maybe>, perhaps less friction between the road and rubber contact patches <although, psi on the now single rear tire goes x2, so friction goes up by some amount, maybe 1.5?>. Is the sum of all that enough to where you'd expect an improvement of 20%-25% over an OEM Metro?
BTW, I love your electric single rear wheel idea, you'd just need to make the motor passive when engaging the ICE. Although still alot of work, the body mods you are talking about get easier if you aren't going to enter it into a car show... IMO crude is good enough to prove the concept, the 2nd gen can be 'purdy'
