DIY Aptera knockoff?

VW Bj (ball joint) front suspension widened 6" ...51.6 inches +6"= 57.6" need to get out to about 78-80" and install rack and pinion

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jmygann said:
Okay we got a simple front sus

Now the rear swing arm .... Chipman says ..."My design distributes load as wide as possible to keep weight down."

but he agrees that it might be better to have the motor off the swing arm ???

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Yah. To keep motor leads from flexing.

It would be nice to have the cg and weight distribution of the T-Rex.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOsYo9Sv43E&feature=related
 
salty9 said:
It would be nice to have the cg and weight distribution of the T-Rex.
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Yes. The Aptera looks nice, but remember the trouble it had with a 45 mph lane change in the X Prize?

The cg of a tadpole should be as low as possible and about a third of the way back from the front axle. Ideally, for a lightweight vehicle, that's where the driver's hips should be too. That's why I'm not keen on tandem tadpoles. Tandem deltas are a different matter: there the passenger sits right on the cg point, so has little effect on weight distribution.

Weight is the main thing to avoid. As Colin Chapman use to say "Simplify and add lightness." There is some relevant stuff on the Very Light Car blog. i also wonder is there's anything to be learned from microlight construction?

One thing I remember from the days long ago when I was interested in kit cars: normal doors are hard to do both well and lightly. what about a polycarbonate bubble canopy that slides forwards and down to make a windscreen for open-top motoring?
 
JennyB said:
Yes. The Aptera looks nice, but remember the trouble it had with a 45 mph lane change in the X Prize?
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Anyone have a link to the video of it having problems? I think they succeeded in purging all from youtube, the ones that are there show the refined handling package succeeding. That is a good thing. Would be nice to see the original run however.

By the way, the green body above looks good for a single seater. Trying to keep the weight within the triangle with two abreast is going to be hard. I know we head for a three wheeler because of the motorcycle licensing requirements; but if it were not for that anomaly, would we not head towards ultra light and 4 wheels?
 
JennyB said:
Yes. The Aptera looks nice, but remember the trouble it had with a 45 mph lane change in the X Prize?

The cg of a tadpole should be as low as possible and about a third of the way back from the front axle. Ideally, for a lightweight vehicle, that's where the driver's hips should be too. That's why I'm not keen on tandem tadpoles. Tandem deltas are a different matter: there the passenger sits right on the cg point, so has little effect on weight distribution.

Weight is the main thing to avoid. As Colin Chapman use to say "Simplify and add lightness." There is some relevant stuff on the Very Light Car blog. i also wonder is there's anything to be learned from microlight construction?

One thing I remember from the days long ago when I was interested in kit cars: normal doors are hard to do both well and lightly. what about a polycarbonate bubble canopy that slides forwards and down to make a windscreen for open-top motoring?
Click to expand...

Would making the vehicle able to lean negate most, if not all ill handling issues with a tadpole? Hell any trike.
 
bigmoose said:
....the green body above looks good for a single seater. Trying to keep the weight within the triangle with two abreast is going to be hard.
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.. thats the "TREV" , and its a 2 seater tandem. .. 90km/hr, 250km range, @ 50Whr/km.
http://www.trevipedia.net/index.php?title=Main_Page
 
2 people side by side takes an 80" front track to stay in the triangle .
 
who won the x prize for side by side ?? ....

http://www.progressiveautoxprize.org/teams/li-ionmotors


[youtube]xvOCA2GNSEc[/youtube]
 
right ... a 4 wheeler... can't be a motorcycle.

switch vehicles writes ....
yes we used a VW front end and widened it to make a 76" track.
The weight distribution is 1/3 ... 1/3 ... 1/3 on each wheel.
 
The Chipman WIND EV ....Curb Weight 560 Pounds

Without the batteries weight is 280 lbs
 
Pure said:
Would making the vehicle able to lean negate most, if not all ill handling issues with a tadpole? Hell any trike.
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If done properly, it should.

I imagine Aptera chose to avoid the complexity of leaning and went for the simple approach of super-wide track.

80" track will not be easy to park in the garage, for many folks.

A leaning Aptera would be kinda cool. :mrgreen:
 
"Trev" is 700lbs with similar performance spec to the Wave .. 90kph, 200km range, 2 seater, etc..??
What did they use the extra 1500lbs for ? :shock:
Weight is a major enemy of these vehicles !
The 4th wheels certainly help keep the width down though..72" over the body with enclosed wheels.
 
Guys, I have to agree with a few other posters here, these 80+" front tracks are not gonna fly in traffic or in a garage. That's nearly as wide as a Hummer H1. Sure, it's great for a sandrail on the wide open desert, but not good when trying to battle rush hour traffic. If 80" is what's required to make a side by side seating arrangement work, then tandem seating needs to be looked at. And with tilting, a tadem seater can be as narrow as 30" or so, which would be great in traffic.

I'd like to see the Persu design get built, but it seems to be stalled forever waiting for production financing.
http://flytheroad.com/

I agree that 3 wheels is going to be required, just so you can fall under motorcycle regulations rather than car regulations.

I'd really like to see a top speed (burst) closer to 80+mph, traffic on the interstate generally flows around 70 and you need some reserve speed to get out of the way. This is the same rule I use for motorcycles. And there's no point in building an extremely aerodynamic vehicle if we aren't going to go fast enough for the interstate, right? And if you are going to travel by interstate, I'd like to see a range higher than the standard target of 100 miles. 150 miles or better would make a much more useful vehicle. Ideally, we design a vehicle that accepts expansion batteries or a range-extending generator, and then the base battery pack can be small and we still have the option of extended range.
 
bigmoose said:
...... I know we head for a three wheeler because of the motorcycle licensing requirements; but if it were not for that anomaly, would we not head towards ultra light and 4 wheels?
Click to expand...

I'd actually played with an idea a while back of using two of Mark's dual-rotor (DU-602?) motorcycle wheels...... :wink:

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