Lina - City EV Made from Plants

[rmay635703]

https://www.farmshow.com/view_articles.php?a_id=176

[freebeard]

Mercedes-Benz have been using hemp particle board in their door panels for years.

Bamboo chassis:


Howard Hughes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9oO6EiBt40

FluidFM µ3Dprinter is the world’s first 3D printer capable of delivering sub-micron resolution in direct metal printing, while offering scalability and good prospects in both production cost and speed.

Printing metal parts as a skin over an internal egg-crate reduces the materials, material cost, weight and the cost of shaping the material. They can print multi-materials, titanium and tool steel.

[NeilBlanchard]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

The lower the watts per mile go the slower you travel and the less car like the vehicle becomes.

If the car is more efficient, then you can travel as fast as you need to, and still use less energy.

The vehicle C. Michael Lewis used to go at over 55MPH only consumed ~15.3Wh/mile. And the Edison2 Very Light Car Electric can carry 4 people at ~55MPH and still be under 100Wh/mile. With a DC motor - so with an AC motor and good control electronics, it is quite conceivable to go faster, and still get excellent efficiency.

The Lina is achieving about 295MPGe and it can drive up to 50MPH. With higher voltage batteries, it could go faster, and I am sure the battery capacity could be increased, so longer range and/or higher speeds are quite doable.

[samwichse]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Bamboo chassis:

But, of course, that's a rendering and it never really existed.

How about this:

[freebeard]

You know, I was so focused on that front wheel, I never noticed the lack of steering. At least they got the lighting correct.


Bamboom Wagens – BAMBOO INTERIORS FOR VINTAGE VW

[samwichse]

Nice door panel. I would have loved some of those on my old 66... although I don't know how long it'd last here.

[freebeard]

So what's it like on the edge of nowhere? Would carbonized bamboo be any help?

But, getting back to Permalink #9; a plausible [to me] scenario would be vertical-grain balsa wood slabs skinned with .007" aluminum, similar to Polymetal. I'm sure such material exists. Monocoque boxes. For low-volume production, steel tube 'roll cage' for the roof structure like this Porsche:

[jamesqf]

Wood as an auto body material is hardly something new, for instance this: 1939 Lagonda V12 Rapide Tulipwood Tourer | Monterey Sports & Classic Car Auction 2007 | RM Sotheby's

[seifrob]

I have read they used flax fibres reinforced with PLA plastic, so I assume its composite with characteristics similar to duroplast, but biodegradable.
One has to take his words back sometimes.

[freebeard]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soybean_car

Henry Ford's 1941 'hemp' car was designed to run on hemp oil and had body panels made of hemp and soy composite.

The soybean car, more recently referred to as the hemp body car, was a car built with agricultural plastic. Although the formula used to create the plasticized panels has been lost, it is conjectured that the first iteration of the body was made partially from soybeans and hemp. The body was lighter and therefore more fuel efficient than a normal metal body. It was made in Dearborn, Michigan, through the work of scientist/botanist George Washington Carver and was introduced to public view on August 13, 1941. It was made, in part, as a hedge against the rationing of steel during World War II. It was designed to run on hemp fuel.

2500lb down to 1900lb, a 25% improvement.