Building a 100mpg consumer vehicle

[pete c]

Originally Posted by Gfleisch

Hi Pete. You're right. For the teardrop shape the rear engine allows you to get the seats a little further forward. Nothing wrong with the rear engine design but you are building more from scratch in terms of AC, Heat, reverse and the ability to remove the wheel like a car wheel.

Using an existing fwd drivetrain certainly does make AC possible and comes with reverse standard. Electric motor reverse is simple enough to do as it is used in certain land yacht touring bikes. Heat can be had with any liquid cooled engine regardless of location.

[pete c]

Originally Posted by Ken Fry

I agree. For simplicity, the Zing POC is rear motored. The next one will be front motored, and the length doesn't change much from the motor location issue. (It does change, of course, from the addition of another seat.) It's always better to have most of the weight on the drive wheel(s). A center drive wheel is especially dicey on snowy roads, giving the rear wheel neither driving nor cornering traction, with potentially pretty good front wheel traction (because the snow tends to pile up in the center of the lane.) This is the reason Aptera did not recommend the first version for mountain roads.

Rear drive in the tadpole setup will definitely not be a foul weather machine. Powersliding 2 rear wheels is plenty exciting. Doing it with one will likely result in exploring it's tip worthiness.

[pete c]

Ken, Did you build the Zing? Is that it in your avatar? Looks pretty cool. What sort of engine did you use?

[NachtRitter]

Pete... search for 'Zing!' here on ecomodder... Ken has a whole thread on it.

[Frank Lee]

Mr. High IQ's trike is not going to hit 100mpg in it's current form.

[Cd]

I love the design of your car ( I think all of us here have dreamed of building something similar )

Kudos for actually building it .

[pete c]

Originally Posted by NachtRitter

Pete... search for 'Zing!' here on ecomodder... Ken has a whole thread on it.

I did and didn't find it. I think maybe I searched just this forum rather than all of ecomodder.

[sgtlethargic]

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ike-19843.html

[Ken Fry]

Originally Posted by pete c

Ken, Did you build the Zing? Is that it in your avatar? Looks pretty cool. What sort of engine did you use?

High Pete,
Many thanks.
I think the link to the thread has been posted, but here it is, nevertheless:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...e-19843-6.html

Engineers (and non-engineers) are welcome in that thread, BTW.

Incidentally the engine is a modified commercial engine (glorified lawnmower engine) that runs at 32% efficiency, or not at all. It's rated 11 hp but runs continuously at a little over 8. (The POC engine is a little smaller and less efficient, having not been modified.)

I'd be happy to answer any questions over at that thread, or via PM, email, etc.
Regards,
Ken

[drmiller100]

You guys are right.

I think I'll take my pics down - no one seems very interested in learning how to build a car which could be powered by diesel or electric.

Good luck Ken on your car.

How many electric cars have you built? Can you post some pics of what the car you have for sale looks like? Have you laid any metal or body down yet, or are you selling vapor ware?????