Electrom1 Long Wheelbase Recumbent Light Electric Vehicle

[ZeroEm]

by tigcross » Nov 30 2021 12:04pm

Hi, sorry I missed this chat as I've been off ES for a bit.

The Electrom is pretty long, and with the current seat set-up can handle riders from 5' to 6' 6"

No problem, we all have lives to live. Have gotten peddle by wire in my head of late and was planning on building on a tandem bike frame. The frame/bike never showed up. They clam it's in one of the ports on a ship.

You Electrom fits what I was dreaming up and you have spent the time to work out most of the issues. Was going to spend a few years building one but will save the money now and see if I can purchased one from you in the future.

 

[tigcross]

sounds good to me

 

[tigcross]

[youtube]dzJiU62SesI[/youtube]

 

[tigcross]

A good demonstration of the Electrom's handling. I had a chance to ride in the snow the other day.

 

[Warren]

Overly complex, not a recumbent, but it is pedal by wire.

https://youtu.be/-UuS8_cya-U

 

[tigcross]

Thanks Warren, it does look pretty cool. I agree that it does seem pretty complex.

 

[tigcross]

We got some great exposure on the FortNine Channel
[youtube]uk2ou5gt_94[/youtube]

 

[Cowardlyduck]

That is some great exposure! Good on you for getting to this point!

How's the sales going? Made many?

Cheers

 

[tigcross]

We have made three so far with plans to make another run this fall. Lots of interested buyers.

 

[tigcross]

Electrom Update September 2024
Hey guys, it's been awhile since the last update. The Electrom project continues to march along at a measured but safe pace. It seems like almost every bicycle-based-vehicle-of-the-future concept that was around when we started has failed to get off the ground or gone bankrupt after a short run so I'm pretty proud that we are still here, producing & selling bikes and getting a lot of great feedback from early adopters.

The Electrom has had a few frame tweaks and all-new bodywork for the 2024 bike. The new polycarbonate cowling has been the biggest change improvement with cleaner lines and increased leg coverage.

It is still a dual motor system with a Direct Drive Nine Continents RH212 rear hub and a geared Bafang G311 on the front. The front controller is set up to shut down at speeds over 40km/h to save power. it is running a pair of 72 volt 22.4 amp-hour battery packs, a pair of Grin Phaserunnermotor controllers and Grin's Cycle Analyst V3 with Solar firmware installed and used to track rider input energy.

 

[Cowardlyduck]

If you're still around in roughly 20 years time when I'm thinking about retiring I might buy one.

 

[tigcross]

If you're still around in roughly 20 years time when I'm thinking about retiring I might buy one.

why wait till you retire to ride a great bike?

 

[tigcross]

Hey everyone, I finaly edited an (almost) complete build video.

 

[tigcross]

Tig, whatever you're spending on aesthetic design and photography is worth every penny! Can you say more about those parts of the journey?
Earlier Electrom:
View attachment 362652
Unrelated Earthglider:
View attachment 362653

Thanks Anthony.
Sadly, I'm not really spending anything on photography as the majority of our budget has to go into developing the bike. I bought a GoPro a couple of years ago, and this year invested in an Insta 360 action camera. These devices allow me to self-photograph and make videos. And if one shoots hours and hours of footage, eventually you'll come up with a couple of decent shots.

I am also trained as a graphic designer, so I have done all of the graphic design and the website (but the website is in desperate need of an upgrade). My artistic background has been helpful in the design and creation of the plugs and molds for the carbon fiber work as well.

The EarthGlider is quite an interesting bike, and obviously shares a lot of similarities with the Electrom. I thinking it is really cool, but in my opinion, it does have one serious drawback, which is the short wheelbase layout. I abandoned short wheelbase a number of years ago because I found it had too many compromises. I think that Pilip's moped is awesome, and because it does not require pedaling, many of my quibbles with a short-wheelbase are less relevant. My issues with short-wheelbase recumbent BICYCLES are:

1. Pedal/heel overlap. One has to stop pedaling in order to turn tight corners. This is also an issue at the handlebars as they interfere with the rider's knees on tight turns.
2. Less stable at high speed.
3. Awkward to get on and off, and you have a steering column between your legs.
4. I also found that the stretched-forward position of the rider's arms became uncomfortable on longer trips. It looks like a small thing, but the lower position of the rider's arms on the Electrom is much more comfortable.

I think that the Earthglider would be a decent highway machine, but I would not want to ride it in the city. A big part of my design criteria for the Electrom was to make it as convenient for use in an urban setting as possible. The reality is that while great aerodynamics and hyper-efficiency may be useful on long trips and in competition, these things are less relevant in an urban setting where ease-of-use and usefulness (lots of cargo) are more important.

 

[tigcross]

Wow, it looks like business class compared to my 3rd class!

On your website I saw an option with protective arcs in case of a fall, that's really cool!

Thanks Pilip. Don't worry, if you spend the next 20 years refining your bike, it too will look more finished.


Yes, the protective arches on the new tailbox do work quite well. One has to remember to keep the legs and arms tucked into the bike. I had a low-speed crash the other night during a parade; I forgot how heavy the Christmas tree was and dumped the bike on a tight turn. The curved metal bump guards saved my bodywork and elbows.

 

[AnthonyC]

Well your graphics training is standing you in good stead I'm interested in how the transition took place from the rounded style to today's sleek styling. Was it prompted by customer feedback, did it evolve from a longstanding itch or did you arrive at a set of visual goals somehow that hadn't been met? With the previous cohesive and functional design well established, how did you set about deciding what needed to change and where changes weren't permitted?

 

[tigcross]

Well your graphics training is standing you in good stead I'm interested in how the transition took place from the rounded style to today's sleek styling. Was it prompted by customer feedback, did it evolve from a longstanding itch or did you arrive at a set of visual goals somehow that hadn't been met? With the previous cohesive and functional design well established, how did you set about deciding what needed to change and where changes weren't permitted?

It was a combination of longstanding itch, feedback, and manufacturing needs. I have known for some time that in order for the Electrom to start to gain wider acceptance, it would need to look cool in a modern sense. The trick was to make it cooler-looking without sacrificing functionality or aerodynamics. The frame layout was already ideal so we knew we were only working with the body styling. In this, we were guided by modern motorcycle styling and what was possible when vacuum forming

The vaccum formed parts were expensive to set up, but once the tooling done, much faster and cheaper to produce.

 

[tigcross]

We've been working on a new tailbox design. The Design Intent is to make a tailbox that is a bit shorter than the existing model, but also has some height for bulkier items. We're going to try something a bit different–these new talboxes will have carbon fiber exterior surfaces with bonded aluminum inner surfaces. The hope is that this will allow for a simpler mold and layup, thus reducing manufacturing costs.



The modern way to produce a mold would be to design in CAD software and then have the plug carved by a CNC router. But this process is quite expensive and hard to justify for a small run. So, we opted to do it the old fashion way by carving the plug by hand.




The process involves building a framework out of wood, then laying foam on top. once the basic shape has been carved, autobody filler is used to finalize the shape and produce a hard surface.
Ideally one would use polyurethane foam, because it is not affected by the solvents in autobody filler, but polyurethane foam is hard to source, so we use the more common insolation styrofoam and a layer of epoxy to protect it from the solvents.

The grey images show the plugs, which are the positive-shapes that will be used to make the negative-shape of the molds. The vertical surfaces are the flange areas that will be the outside edges of the molds.

 

[amberwolf]

Ideally one would use polyurethane foam, because it is not affected by the solvents in autobody filler, but polyurethane foam is hard to source,

if you ever need it, polytek makes it

Polyurethane Foam - Rigid & Flexible | Polytek Development Corp.

PolyFoam Series foams are two-part, self-skinning polyurethane systems that are used to cast lightweight rigid or flexible objects with densities in the range of 3 to 20 lb/ft³.

polytek.com

reynoldsam should also carry it; they've got locations in a bunch of cities

also smooth-on

i've bought platsil from them over the years for various scifi props and for my wolfy-bot project.

 

[tigcross]

if you ever need it, polytek makes it

Polyurethane Foam - Rigid & Flexible | Polytek Development Corp.

PolyFoam Series foams are two-part, self-skinning polyurethane systems that are used to cast lightweight rigid or flexible objects with densities in the range of 3 to 20 lb/ft³.

polytek.com

reynoldsam should also carry it; they've got locations in a bunch of cities

also smooth-on

i've bought platsil from them over the years for various scifi props and for my wolfy-bot project.

I should have said "precast polyurethane foam is hard to source and expensive"

Yes, I do also use quite a bit of two-part urathane foam. It's great stuff, but it is quite expensive and I needed quite a lot for this project. There is also the added steps of mixing the components and making the slabs of rigid foam.

I needed to put down a rigid layer of fiberglass between the foam and the Autobody filler anyway, so using epoxy instead of polyester resin was an easy solution.

I should point out that autobody filler can have problems sticking to freshly cured epoxy resin because of the amine residue, so one needs to wash and dry the cured epoxy and fibergalss surface with water before applying filler.

...so maybe just using urethane foam would be easier

 

[Eifelbiker13]

Having looked closely at the Podbike pedal-by-wire system I can say that it seems viable. They have two separate motors, one that outputs the maximum wattage allowed in the EU and the other that receives the rider-generated power. This separated approach allows them to operate clearly within the regulations.

The Northern Lights effort is a little suspect as they are using one direct-drive hub motor. From personal experience I can say that there is no way that a DD motor can produce the required torque to move their vehicle while operating within EU and GB power limits.

I've been riding the Podbike since April 24 and am super satisfied, but I bought a second battery for a longer range. The biggest advantage is that it is really suitable for everyday use and you are protected in all weathers.