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Old 03-04-2009, 03:02 PM   #1 (permalink)
Blue Bomber Man
EcoModding Apprentice
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Upstate NY
Posts: 190

GreenMile - '00 Mazda Protege ES
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EV from Scratch Build Thread - Please feel free to contribute!

Off and on over the last few months I have posted that I was going to design and build my own EV. Well finally things are coming together and I have made some decisions based on practicality.

The vehicle is going to be a 3 wheel design with a minimum speed of 75 mph and a range of 80+ miles (will probably go for 100+....all depends on my budget, the battery pack will be scalable)

I have created a blog charting my efforts and designs and already includes some designs that I am working on in SolidWorks. You may recognize the design because it will be based on the Australian TREV. However I do plan to improve its aerodynamics significantly.

Here is a sample image of what I have so far:

IsoViewFullCarVer2 - Vox

The main information/advice I need right now is regarding the suspension and steering system. I am estimating the total weight including driver to be around 700 pounds at the moment (could be as low as 450 though). Also need to learn about breaking more. I am hoping to not need any hydraulics for braking pressure (hopefully that would be unneeded weight/complexity).

The plan is regenerative breaks from the rear wheel and mechanical brakes of sort on the front. I also need to figure out a way to have the mechanical brakes to only kick after a certain amount of force is applied to the pedal so that the regenerative brakes do almost all braking except during emergencies.

Please check out my blog: BenW’s blog - Vox

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http://benw385.vox.com/
'Blog' on the open source electric motorcycle project.

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