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Pedal Powered Car

Electric mo-ped car

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With tiny euro-cars coming back into vogue and electric vehicles starting to take off, why not adapt the moped concept into a car? Driver (and passengers if available) would pedal an assembly similar to a paddle boat. This dynamo could charge a battery for an electric motor. Maybe couple it with solar panels? And of course, now standard brake energy reclamation. Seems like it shouldn't be a huge challenge... you'd get your workout while commuting and wouldn't have to worry about foul weather!

—	me1054, May 27 2010

baked-scroll down a bit for photo and article http://dvice.com/ar...antro_solo_hybr.php
[dentworth, May 27 2010]

Essentially one of these http://www.aerorider.com/
[MechE, May 27 2010]

Regen http://www.exclusivelines.co.uk
[swimswim, May 27 2010]

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So a Sinclair C5 with regen?

Based on the runaway success of the C5, you're onto a winner.

(Sarcasm is an economical form of humour.)

—	Twizz, May 27 2010

// the runaway success of the C5 //

It was a runaway success only because the brakes were so ineffective ... they should have gone to a Japanese company for that part of the design - maybe Toyota .. ?

—	8th of 7, May 27 2010

( imagines uncontrolled accelleration in a Sinclair, starts humming "Anticipation"...)

—	lurch, May 27 2010

//Seems like it shouldn't be a huge challenge...//

It doesn't seem to be a challenge until you actually start work on it. I started on my 3-wheel commuter vehicle (aka "Cabin Scooter") about 3 years ago; I may have the fiberglass bodywork done in another 2 or 3 years. I have little time, but even less money, so it's not going to be a rush job.

Google Jory Squibb's story about building Moonbeam.

—	whlanteigne, Feb 01 2013

Electric asssists for pedal bikes are available, enclosed commuter pedal vehicles are also. Electric assists for enclosed pedal vehicles are baked, then.

They aren't widely known because it really doesn't work well. Because humans are weak and batteries are strong.

A human, on a good day, can pedal out about 1/10th horsepower, to move its body along at about 10 mph, and arrive at the office in a muck sweat. The electric assist is needed to carry the vehicle proper. If the battery-assist system is tweaked up just a little bit, to carry the human body, and not just the enclosed canopy, the driver arrives dry.

Second, a pedal-driven generator is heavy, and the system needed to put that power into the batteries and wheels is messy. And expensive. And once you add a little weight to an electric vehicle, you need more weight to carry that weight.

A person pedalling the very minimum of frames works fairly well. But once you put electricity into the mix, you might as well put your feet up and build an electric car.

—	baconbrain, Feb 01 2013

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