Eco kit car?
 

Hi all,

I was wondering, does anyone know if there's a company out there that makes an eco kit car?

Light weight, aerodynamic, with maybe a small diesel car as the donor... for example?

I've had a bit of a search and there are one or two where people who have put diesel engines in a kit cars but they were very custom affairs.

Anyone???

Something like a Lotus Seven/Caterham kit car with a nice aero body? I've been thinking about for quite some time, dreaming more or less. Those things weigh almost nothing and I guess a small TDI will bring IT very goor mileage! And still pretty fast with it's aprox. 500 kilograms.

Would anybody be interested in open source designing one?

Jim, I think me and you need to have an email discussion, our minds seem to go the same direction as far as a custom build is concerned.

As far as an eco kit car, I don't think the ones that are produced would be within anyone's realistic budget, the few I've seen are $16,000 or so PLUS a Miata or similar donor car.

Have you checked out CAD Product Design Consultant | DIY Product Design and Development | Robert Q Riley Enterprises ?

Hate to throw a wet towel on this, but liability issues in todays world would have you done before you begun.

Seriously, think about how things would go down when someone is hurt or killed in an accident while driving the Kit car, or the person hit by the kit car, or, anyone else within 30 miles of the kit car before, during, or after the accident....mental anguish and all.

Go ahead and talk to an insurance expert before you begin, make it your first stop. Make an attorney your second stop.

This isn't an issue, I live in the UK. After the appropriate tests, the car will be road legal and perfectly insurable.

An eco kit car is in the works.

The Pursuit of 100 MPG: Meet Jack McCornack, DIY Car Wizard

Here is the link for the ecomodder discussion about the car.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ody-11009.html]

Kinetic Vehicles

here you go
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...i-14154-2.html

Simple.

Just sell the kit as "parts." Make sure the end purchaser (or somebody other than the kit manufacturer) does 51% of the work getting the vehicle roadable, and thus becomes the "manufacturer" of the vehicle, NOT the kit manufacturer.

This has been employed to great success in the U.S. "kitplane" experimental aviation segment, allowing for vibrant kit sales at a time when liability claims mostly shut down factory-built general aviation.

I'd found and read through that thread the other day. It seems like an excellent idea. No posts since 201102, have you heard any news?

I'd like to see the Venn diagram that sorts out Smyth Performance, Factory Five Racing and Local Motors.

Smurf & HydroJim -- ==>Local Motors<==

Thanks guys... plenty of reading for me.

I know that he is cranking along.
I catch his facebook occasionally.

I'm a big 66 mustang guy and liked the factory five concept of donor car.
But I could definately switch to tdi loylaty!!!

When I was pumping gas in the 60s a guy pulled into the pumps in a black 1964 1/2 Ford Falcon Sprint with a 427.

Being an air-cooled VW type, I'd like to see the whole TDI drive-train and suspension in the back of a Beetle. Rear wheel drive and four wheel steering (the torsion bar Beetle has a wide turning circle).

Sheepish -

Wikispeed is open sourced :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wgn2E-LilA

CarloSW2

18 minutes of awesome. He addressed my main objection to their design (tha lack of doors) and showed substantial progress with the modular frame connectors. It shows the power of the open source design method. (ship early, ship often)

Still, it's just gusseted rectangles, not a truly triangulated frame. Not even round cornered rectangles. Maybe an iteration or two down the road they will be doing 3D-printed, sintered and heat-treated modular connectors.