Electric Bike RV is Tiny House on Wheels - with Video

[MitchJi]

Hi,

Vehicles as housing: 27-sq-ft bike home + rowboat shelter

"I don't know if I could have a car without a bed in it." San Francisco Jay Nelson has put beds into nearly every vehicle he's ever owned, including a semi-totalled Honda Civic (bought for $200) and a tiny rowboat (found on craigslist).

He's even made a moped into a camper, but his most impressive podmobile is the electric camper bike he built from scratch using parts "you can find at a hardware store".

He bought the PVC pipe chassis online, along with an electric motor (he discarded his initial pedal-powered design because of the San Francisco hills) and began to build the vehicle in his driveway.

He calls his tiny mobile home the Golden Gate and with an electric motor range of 10 miles, it can go basically anywhere within San Francisco (7 x 7 square miles) at a top speed of 20mph.

Featuring sleeping space, luggage storage, a tiny kitchen (with sink) and even a rudimentary toilet arrangement, this thing is pretty darned neat. And the addition of a steering wheel/iPhone holder makes it feel all rather modern, if a little quirky.

Sure, it's minute size and limited range—it can do a little under 10 miles and has a top speed of 20mph ("especially down hill!")—mean that this is more a leisure run-around than a serious home. But it is one more reminder that simplicity and smallness can bring freedom and great pleasure.

[youtube]NFPQybhfy2M[/youtube]
More here:
http://www.treehugger.com/sustainab...d-cars-into-whimsical-geometric-caravans.html

...one of his first experiments was to modify a beat-up Honda civic with a broken rear window, which he purchased for $200 before adding on a curvaceous, wooden shell in the back.

His website:
http://jaynelsonart.com/

 

[grindz145]

This is crazy and awesome haha! I feel like this would be me, if I did drugs. I can't help but appreciating that little mini RV ebike though. It really is like a childhood dream

 

[mabman]

California Dreaming.

 

[LI-ghtcycle]

Interesting stuff, I'd want a little more field of vision on his "electric camper" though, and I'd be curious how much money he has into just supplies.

 

[dogman dan]

Nice the way he sculpts with plywood. Looks like a homemade airstream.

 

[REdiculous]

That's pretty whacky, but I like it.

I'm making a small bob type tent-trailer rather than a big airstream or camper-van. Since I'll have power available I want it to kinda open/close at the push of a button, if I can manage that. I already have a 1kw inverter on the bike so I just need a small genset that can push around 250w and I should be good to go. A constant 250w would greatly enhance the range and would charge the batteries pretty quickly once camp was set. I also have a little solar panel I might be able to use and I was thinking it might be worth it to make a small windmill as well.

I don't like the idea of a toilet in/on my vehicle and I wouldn't have any use for a sink either. A (hot!) shower could be handy, but a lot of nice camp sites have showers included anyway and it'd be hard to carry enough water - a garden hose hookup would be cool though, if you could heat it on demand. The only other thing I can really think of that I would want is a small cooler that makes its own ice twice a day or so...it would have to be pretty small though, maybe a little bigger than a hard shell 6-pack cooler. yup

 

[rojitor]

I kinda like it, you can go surfing on a rainy day

 

[TonyReynolds]

This is extremely cool and I applaud the guy's creativity (and his GF for being a good sport), but I can't help but think of how unsafe it would be to "drive" his three-wheeled "home" on the streets with limited visibility and no lights or mirrors.