Something BIG! Road Rally / Race / Documentary Film

[silverinsight2]

Grand dream, grand idea.

[JethroBodine]

Excellent plan. Building two at different locations would definitely inspire competition.

The car builds are similar to what I'm planning for my Jetta, except I'll be including a rewound alternator running off the engine for the drive battery charging as the engine runs, regen will be manually variable for differing hills, and as I have a gasoline engine, I'll be keeping that for now.

[California98Civic]

Bennelson,

These sound like great and ambitious ideas. Even if you couldn't find enough people for two teams, one would be enough. I would still recommend the other ideas as well, recruit a larger fleet of EM cars too. I imagine the event as a whole would have larger participation that way. I would love to participate, especially if my daughter rides shot-gun with me!

[bennelson]

I would still plan on filming/documentary, racing/rally, and anything else that would make this big!

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by bennelson

Build an Open Source Plug-In Hybrid.

Diesel. Make it be able to run on bio-diesel or veggie oil.

Biodiesel (B100) is not compatible with current generation diesel particulate filters and methods.
As a new vehicle, it'll have to comply with the current (Euro 5) or oncoming standards (Euro 6) - or their US counterparts.
It ain't worth building if it ain't going to be clean.
And even diesels with DPFs are not clean by the looks of it.

Conversions may be OK in the US, but are a lot harder to get registered in the EU.
Conversions only exist as long as donor cars exist.
Say no to conversions of 1980-1990 cars.
They are simply not comparable to today's emissions and safety standards.


I say natural gas.
Burns clean by its chemical simplicity (the purer you get it, the cleaner it'll burn).
Sure it's still mostly a fossil fuel, but it's easy to make Methane / CH4 / biogas from biological waste stuff.
The basic distribution network exists - at least in Europe.
Many countries that don't have oil, do have gas.

It can still be coupled to a hybrid drive.

The car could run on solar, wind, and other renewably-sourced electricity.

It's been done by the Wind Explorer.
Evonik Industries - Specialty chemicals - Wind Explorer
Yup, it's a very minimal car - hardly a car IMO.

It can even use a wing to pull it along.

What do you think? Is it a good concept? Is it doable?

IMO the basic flaw is the purpose of the vehicle.
The no limitations / no hassling about - say - lack of boot space issue may look nice on paper, but may well result in a pretty useless vehicle.

It's got to have a practical purpose beyond driving coast-2-coast or coast-2-mid continent.

A commuter-car then ?
Fine, but while many have said they'd built the next-gen über-efficient commuter vehicle, few are on the road.
Around here, most people have 1, or 2 cars at worst.
Few people here have an additional fun car, or a dedicated commuter car.

I'd say the practicality of the 1st gen Insight is very much the lower limit.
- 2 seats
- a fair bit of luggage/cargo space - preferably a bit more useful than on the Insight 1.

[JethroBodine]

and as I have a gasoline engine, I'll be keeping that for now.

I spoke too soon. Seems I've acquired a 1.6 diesel to swap into my Jetta. Could be an "also ran" for part of it.

[redyaris]

I suspect that your proposal is to much for one year. My personal inclination is to focus on conservation regardless of fuel/energy source. I very much like the Idea of a meet up at Bonneville.
I recall discusions in the 1980's about the energy sources for home heating and the comparative cost of each, and the idea that servived was that as the amount of energy needed droped the cost/unit mattered less and less. In our case as the amont of energy needed by a vehicals to go 60mph on the high and in stop and go trafic is reduced the energy source/cost becomes erelivant. this would also result in the return of EV's as a viable option for more and more people...
So for the first year simply organize the event find and solve those problems then go on, in subcequent year with other bigger ideas.

[Ladogaboy]

I agree. I don't think that this should be a one-time, all-or-nothing event. I'm wondering if this could be set up in "cells," so to speak. If a group wants to try to create an EV from scratch, they can. If a group wants to participate in a Cannonball Run type eco rally, they can. And if an intrepid group wants to film this as a documentary to provide national exposure, that would be awesome!

Personally, I'd like to help with/participate in the last two.

[JethroBodine]

Agree, tall order indeed.

Ben, it looks like I'm going to be meeting up with Aerohead( maybe Redyaris, too) next September, on the Salt. The timing could allow for a meet up on the way out or back. Tentatively, I'll be taking the weeks before and after that weekend( Sep. 8-11) for travel. Be a good time to meet up with others share a bottle or two. This trip is going to take a lot of my time, but since my build will be heading in the direction you are thinking, it could add on to what you are thinking.

[bennelson]

Originally Posted by JethroBodine

Agree, tall order indeed.

Ben, it looks like I'm going to be meeting up.... on the Salt.

I better start designing something if I'm going to be there!

Sounds like fun!