How about this ...e32Cl***ic Hot Rod ...It charges at home from any 120 Volt, 15 to 20 amp household electrical receptacle over night Top Speed: 45 MPH+ (Depending on Gear Ratio) Range: 25 to 45 Miles (Depending on Gear Ratio & Driving Conditions)
wasn't there a yellow 32 roadster 10-15 years ago built in Arizona that kicked ***......way better than 45 mph??
There's nothing Cl***ic OR Hot about 45 mph in a 32 "Hot Rod" However, I gotta give them props for showing something can be done that is more envisonmentally conscious and still retain the essence of hot rodding. I would like to think that if more people got on board there might be a rapid performance development. Now - what do they do about the lack of a mean sounding set of pipes or headers?
Hmm, kinda crummy performance numbers for an EV. They must have been real limited in the number of batteries they could mount. Probably an RPU would have been a better choice. For the haters, Google "White Zombie Datsun" and see that EV performance is no laughing matter. BTW, I don't view this as non-traditional. Electric cars have been around longer than gasoline vehicles, but when gas caught on EV technology was largely abandoned. It's starting to come back now. Henry Ford thought they were cool: Notice the modified T frame under the second one? -Dave
Thanks to Nitro for posting this, and Gigantor for his comments on it. Tradition and the beauty of days-gone-by, there is nothing the collected brainpower of this gang can't do.(HAMB-ers) I much more appreciate workmanship, not cookie-cutter, trying to be cool replica stuff. There is a place for electrics, and Newsweek has quite an article on the Tesla roadster this week. Surely for $100K we could dust them with a HAMB version!
On closer look, this is one of those scaled-down Neighborhood Electric Vehicles, isn't it? Blah, those things are kinda lame. Just a disguised golf cart. The yellow EV mentioned above was the real deal (albeit way too "street roddy" for me): -Dave
I'm as big of an Alt. Energy geek as you will meet and yes, they get props for effort, but a C+ a best for execution. With the limited number of pics above it's hard to see the exact configuration but in hub motors produce the best numbers while also freeing up space for additional battery storage. Also, weight reduction is a big key in a setup like this since there is a huge increase in overall weight due to the batteries. If they really want a slick setup they should have used LiON batteries.
The LPG car is cool, but if you're looking to throw off the petroleum chains, that's not really a solution, unfortunately. Anyone know if you can do something similar with methane? Lots of garbage dumps just venting that off to atmosphere when they could be collecting it. By the by, lest anyone should think electric vehicles were gone by the V8-Ford era, the Detroit Electric was produced until 1939. Although I must admit, it's rather feminine looking: -Dave
Recent mention of using algae based oil for fuel caught my eye. Maybe it would mean hearing the clank-clank of Herr Diesel? If you had a mind to experiment w/making a low-er cost fuel cell powered car, then the exhaust is CO2 and water. The electrics can be very quick, and as mentioned the Li-ion battery holds some promise. The latest in sensor monitored IC engines are better, but early stuff was said to be 7 gals of heat and 3 gals of torque/rotation out of a 10 gal tank.
That's becuase they were marketed specifically to uppper-crust ladies who didn't want to deal with smelly gasoline powered cars.
Funny, just this morning the thought crossed my mind of doing the second shoebox that I'm picking up in a month or so as an EV. No 45 MPH wheezer here though, Tesla has shown that streetable EVs can pack decent power, although they're still limited to a range under 150 miles. I can't imagine how the performance would rate if detroit had put as much research into electric instead of gas, but electric has never been as practical as gas for the way we drive (besides, I don't think dual gl***packs on an electric motor has quite the same impact!) Fortunately the thought was brief, and I think I'll stick with a dino-burner until the electric technology catches up . . .
Algae based Bio-D has yet to be proven efficient outside of a lab enviroment. There's probably at least 10 years worth of R&d still ahead before you see anything significant for the end user.
Between watching Robert Mitchem in Thunder Road and Richard Feynmann's lectures...I suspect we could homebrew some fine oil...if only the Algai would go along.
I give them credit for trying but got to agree that those performance numbers are pretty weak even for a half *** effort. If you want some kick *** performance in an electric ride and don't mind letting go of big pile of cash, you can already order up a Tesla and pretty much blow away any number of top dollars sports cars: http://www.teslamotors.com/ So, yes, if you do it right and have some serious cash to invest, you can make an electric car that won't have any performance problems. And speaking of LPG as a side topic, as I have mentioned before, I am running my '53 truck with a flathead 6 245 with dual manifolds on LPG and so far, I am pretty happy with it. Not really toxic in liquid form and pretty clean burning (just like your grill), actually safer than gasoline and to top it off $2.50 a gallon which is at least $.50 cheaper than the cheapest gas you can get around here - downside, limited places to fill up the proper way with the road taxes and **** as also previously mentioned. But, anyway, back to electric. Innovation and trying new things has always been a part of hot rodding. So, I give them credit for that. They could have more easily popped in a SBC and called it a day, but they didn't and they tried something different.
Electric cars have been around a long time. We had a car at USF that was called a baker electric. It was built in 1911, so they predate most of our hot rods. It was originally sold to the vanderbilt family, they weren't cheap.
nice info, thanks. haven't had a chance to read through it thoroughly yet, but seems to match well with what my experiences are.
Will do. Actually, I am just getting ready to put in the remote fill lines right now and that should finish off the LPG stuff. Now the truck itself on the other had is just an old beater driver and not that worthy of h.a.m.b. material, but the engine is fairly nice now. I'll try to post some pics in a couple of days. Unfortunately, I don't have the camera with me today.
Thanks for bringing these up. With enough batteries and the right controler, you can really have some fun.
The Jalopy Journal
