This tiny little scratch-built electric tricycle is a insanely powerful. Some might think you don’t need a crash helmet for testing a trike, but seeing the video after the break where [Ben Katz] is flying through a parking garage while slaloming between the support beams proves that this ride has some pep to it.
Looking through the presentation post linked above is fun, but when we started digging though the six build log posts we felt ourselves getting sucked into the project. It’s a delight every step of the way. It started with an aluminum box which will host the two rear wheels, drive train, motor, and battery. [Ben] decided to go with A123 Lithium cells, and after testing to see how many he could fit in the space available he started making choices on the motor and driver circuit. When he finally got his hands on the actual cells for the project he took on the fascinating process of constructing his own battery. Dozens of them were hot glued, then soldered together before being encased by placing them in soda bottles and hitting the plastic with a heat gun. And we haven’t even gotten into the bicycle hub-gear transmission system, disc brakes, differential, chain-drive, and motor… you see what we mean about sucking you in.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering this is not [Ben’s] first electric vehicle build. Last year he was showing off his all terrain scooter.
So “dangerous” the other guy tests it out while wearing crocs…..
Every hardware hacker knows that Crocs are excellent emergency brakes!
“dangerous” as in, if you smack your bean on the ground you’re not likely to be the life of the party anymore.
I don’t think wearing Crocs would ever make you the life of a party…
In addition to a differential, it also allows the driver to lean into curves (like!)
Does it have regenerative braking in addition to the disc brakes?
It does seem to run by surges, that makes it noisier I think.
Seems like it’s all or nothing as far as the throttle is concerned. unless he is purposely surging it like that.
I think that’s shifting.
I REALLY like the leaning into curves mod. That’s a nice one.
This is sweet!
Me wants ;-)
Excellent. I really want to build something like this for my son some day. (He’s only 18 months so I’ve still got some time.)
The plan is that he can drive it himself but I’ll have a remote override / speed limit for when he’s heading towards something dangerous. And of course an auto cutout if he’s out of range.
I so thought you were going to say “The plan is that he can drive himself to daycare”. That would have been awesome.
I have the perfect music for this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elv-Egyp_To
Shorts, socks and crocs: Now there’s a true geek! I’m off to read the blog.
Man that’s one sweet ride, every 4 year old would be busting their piggy bank to get one! I do like the way the body tilts in turns though, that must make it far more manoeuvrable.
300wH sounds like it doesn’t last very long with that much power! Looks to be 3P12S arrangement. Maxing out that controller looks to be around 7C discharge on the batteries, well within specs. I’m estimating ~10 minutes of max throttle at 100% DOD if setting the current to max continuous rating of 50A. I love that drivetrain. Awesome build!
The differential is pretty ingenious. That and the pivoting front end. Smart guy.
Still…he’s a chicken. I want to see some power slides…
I love it. Anyone interested should also check out the professionally offered “YikeBike.” I rode a YikeBike once, and it was tremendous fun.
Looks like the head tube could use some rake. With those forks, the steering has a lot of negative trail.
Now in english… (I understood rake anyway but what’s negative trail? Like understeer?)
It’s caster.
You want the steering axis slightly ahead of the contact patch of the wheel so the steering self centers. If it’s behind the wheel like it appears to be in this case, you have to fight the steering from doing a 180 whenever you move it off-center.
This… is a bit underwhelming.
Don’t get me wrong, the build is awesome in ingenuity and quality of the work, but for the size of that engine I was expecting more POWERRRRRR (imagine this as screamed bj Jeremy Clarkson). Madly spinning wheels, stupid acceleration, shrieks of terror from the testers, the like.
LOLZ!……..have you ever noticed the way he (Jeremy Clarkson) says “BUT THENNNNN!…….” in that deep rumbling voice? Makes whatever it is he is talking about seem a little more impressive!
search for Drift Trikes
“This tiny little scratch-built electric tricycle is a insanely powerful” <– sounds like modern cave language. No offence, just couldn't help it! :D
Does anyone have a link to something that explains how that kind of differential actually works?
It works the exact same way as a bevel gear differential does. The pairs of long overlapping spur gears are equivalent to the planet bevel gears in a normal one. This might help:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differential_(mechanical_device)#Spur-gear_differential