Electric Elio?

[AriLea]

I think the gas filler tube would be where I'd want to put the plug-in for the charge station (assuming we don't want to rebuild any of the body panels to incorperate an alternate hatch for the charger). My Leaf has a little hatch on the nose that pops up to reveal the charge port, and I really like the nose better than the side for this, but the starboard side wouldn't be bad.

As to what to do with the bulge, I think that could be used for incorperating some of the heavy gauge wiring for linking the batteries in the "gas tank" with the batteries and BMS under the hood. That way you don't need to re-wire the actual interior of the car too much.

Two points, the motor is smaller than the engine, leaving room, and weight needs to be placed well in a trike.
So some of those batteries need to go upfront and some where the gas tank was. Don't put any high and rearward like in the 'truck' or high in the passenger seat, (not that you would).

 

[Rob Croson]

New level 3 chargers will probably drop a top-off time down to one to five minutes. You wouldn't have time to buy a Coke at the power station. Teslas charge to 80% in a quarter hour, but keep in mind that's a half-ton(-ish?) of battery. An Elio would have a one or two hundred pounder.

You can only jam power into a battery so fast. Assuming you have enough electric power available, the size of the battery is not really a limiting factor. That's why cell phone batteries take so long to charge, despite their tiny size. The newest Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 system will charge a phone battery to 80% in ~35 minutes. That's because there are physical limit to have fast you can charge a battery that has nothing to do with the size of the power source.

I have no doubt that future technology will be able to charge batteries faster. But saying that a small battery can be charged faster than a big battery, that's only true in certain circumstances. If you ignore the limitations of the power source, you get about the same charge times. (Also, there is plenty of evidence to show that these quick charges are damaging to the battery, resulting in shorter battery life.)

 

[Sethodine]

Two points, the motor is smaller than the engine, leaving room, and weight needs to be placed well in a trike.
So some of those batteries need to go upfront and some where the gas tank was. Don't put any high and rearward like in the 'truck' or high in the passenger seat, (not that you would).

Exactly, I was thinking something like 70% of batteries under the hood (more room their anyways) and 30% in the "gas tank". Depending on actual volume of the given spaces. But on second thought, it might be better to put 100% of the batteries up front, and put the Inverter, BMS, and other equipment in the "gas tank". That would put them closer to the charge port/gas cap location, and would keep all of the batteries close to the liquid cooling system up front. No need to split the cooling system into two places.

 

[Marshall]

I think the gas filler tube would be where I'd want to put the plug-in for the charge station (assuming we don't want to rebuild any of the body panels to incorperate an alternate hatch for the charger). My Leaf has a little hatch on the nose that pops up to reveal the charge port, and I really like the nose better than the side for this, but the starboard side wouldn't be bad.

As to what to do with the bulge, I think that could be used for incorperating some of the heavy gauge wiring for linking the batteries in the "gas tank" with the batteries and BMS under the hood. That way you don't need to re-wire the actual interior of the car too much.

Would there be any problem with having the electric portion utilize the rear wheel for ALL ELECTRIC while retaining the range advantages of the Hybrid using the front wheels for drive and rear wheel to recapture energy during braking?

I envision having it capable of utilizing either Gasoline or a charging station seamlessly depending on what type of facilities are available. Drivers Side for Gasoline and "passenger" side for an electric plug in.

I also get better mileage in the city or stop and go traffic than on the open highway and I suspect it's from "braking" recapture of energy.

 

[Sethodine]

Would there be any problem with having the electric portion utilize the rear wheel for ALL ELECTRIC while retaining the range advantages of the Hybrid using the front wheels for drive and rear wheel to recapture energy during braking?

I envision having it capable of utilizing either Gasoline or a charging station seamlessly depending on what type of facilities are available. Drivers Side for Gasoline and "passenger" side for an electric plug in.

I also get better mileage in the city or stop and go traffic than on the open highway and I suspect it's from "braking" recapture of energy.

Certainly, I think there are lots of options for making it hybrid. I was just speculating on a pure-electric conversion.

 

[Rickb]

Interesting Bloomberg article on the future of EVs.

http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-ev-oil-crisis/

 

[Sethodine]

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Interesting article from Bloomberg...

http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-ev-oil-crisis/

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Interesting Bloomberg article on the future of EVs.

http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-ev-oil-crisis/

 

[AriLea]

Would there be any problem with having the electric portion utilize the rear wheel for ALL ELECTRIC while retaining the range advantages of the Hybrid using the front wheels for drive and rear wheel to recapture energy during braking?

I envision having it capable of utilizing either Gasoline or a charging station seamlessly depending on what type of facilities are available. Drivers Side for Gasoline and "passenger" side for an electric plug in.

I also get better mileage in the city or stop and go traffic than on the open highway and I suspect it's from "braking" recapture of energy.

That's pretty much the same as the PriusC operation. The C does have the emotor in the front, but that makes little or no difference on it's own. But it's in context of a system. The XR3 is built like your 'vision'.

The C coordinates throttle control with motor control and recapture. When you do this as an add on you either have to manage all that manually or integrate the systems. There is then some caveats to accommodate like power brakes and AC. Sometimes your automatic suffers because many require the engine to at least idle to keep the tranny lubed. This is not a problem for the C since the eMotor is turning the input shaft to the tranny.

 

[WilliamH]

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Seems to me that these were the same type of people who predicted (when I was a kid - in the early 50s) that by the year 2000 we would all be flying to work in helicars and hovercraft, and that instead of concrete and asphalt highways there would be "green ways" with guidance cables buried in them. I don't recall seeing any of that stuff lately.

 

[NSTG8R]

.........and the idea of a radio built into Dick Tracy's wrist watch. Some tech makes it, some tech takes a little more time to find market acceptance, or becomes affordable to the masses like the Pal-V helicar.
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I have a hard enough time keeping track of the cellphone-talking A-holes on the road. I don't think my mental radar could handle a 3rd dimension!