The Energy Return Wheel ERW© Israel Flying Car video. Electic Car Shortcut. Siemens VDO eCorner Project: A $672 electric car, built by two DIYers. What do you get when you cross a Geo Metro with an electric forklift, a golf cart, and a bunch of used batteries?
You get the “ForkenSwift” (see web site), a ridiculously inexpensive, home-built, street-legal electric car. This battery powered grocery getter was built by Darin Cosgrove and Ivan Limburg, of Brockville, Ontario. The friends were looking for a project to do in Limburg’s new workshop, and set their sights on building an EV after reading about a couple of DIY electric car conversions on the web. Since neither of them had tackled anything quite like this before, they were wary of breaking the bank on what amounted to a rolling science project with a questionable outcome. So they bought all their parts & supplies second hand, and scrounged a few for free. They sold the Geo’s engine and its recently replaced gas tank through an online ad – you don’t need either of those in an EV! Modular cars. Tube Frame Design - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum. Keep in mind the metro was car #2 I tried building.
The first one was a bit more rough It does take a bit of practice getting it right but the good thing is the metal is not that expensive really so it won't cost much to abandon a car and start over. For welding I say use what you like. As long as it is a good weld it really doesn't make that much difference for most things. I used a gasless mig for 90% of my frame and a stick welder for the rest of it. Off the top of my head here is a list of stuff I have for metal work.
Welder - lincoln pro-mig and lincoln ac buzzbox stick welder cheap chop saw from Lowes Angle Grinder came with it in a package deal Tubing notcher from harbor freight with hole boring bits from Lowes Bender from harbor freight alignment magnets from harbor freight hobart airforce plasma cutter lots of jack stands probably 12 of them total. That is about it and it has done a pretty good job for what I use it for. Tube frame car.
Build your own car. Motorcycle Powered Cars. Current motorcycle engines are pretty sophisticated.
You don't have to look at MotoGP engines to see it either, just visit any motorcycle dealer and look at the street bikes ready to follow you home. Many 600cc sportbikes produce over 100hp and 1000cc liter bikes develop over 150hp. The Suzuki Hayabusa comes in around 175hp and thanks to a well developed aftermarket, the big 'Busa can be turbocharged, given the big bore treatment and, of course, fitted with nitrous, for unbelievable horsepower gains. At a recent horsepower shootout, one well massaged Hayabusa cranked out over 700hp! Why not cars? Hartley Hayabusa V8 With a little imagination you might look at those engines, note their compact dimensions, peer under the hood of a small car and go hmm... Well, before you pat yourself on the back for being so creative, it should be noted that folks have been putting motorcycle engines in cars for quite some time.
Factory built and kit based Construction issues Engine variations Super7Cars DP Cars. The modular car. I'm frightfully pleased with myself, because I know how to make an electric car you'd actually want to own. Electric cars have not, as you may have noticed, been doing all that well since about 1900. Here in Australia, normal battery electric vehicles pretty much just don't exist. I've looked high and low, and once you rule out the little scooters and hideous specialised commercial vehicles and hilarious is-that-thing's-aspect-ratio-right Noddy cars (which let you pay used-Corolla prices for pensioner-scooter performance...), there's nothing. The Australian Electric Vehicle Association Web site is a land of blowing dust and bouncing tumbleweeds.