Bicycle Adds Reliability With Second Chain

February 3, 2025 by Bryan Cockfield 70 Comments

Ignoring the International Cycling Union‘s mostly arbitrary rules for what a bicycle is “supposed” to look like (at least if you want to race), there are actually reasons that the bicycling world has standardized around a few common parts and designs. Especially regarding the drivetrain, almost all bikes use a chain, a freewheel, and a derailleur if there are gears to shift because these parts are cheap, reliable, and easy to repair. But if you’re off grid in a place like Africa, even the most reliable bikes won’t quite cut it. That’s why a group called World Bicycle Relief designed and built the Buffalo bicycle, and the latest adds a second gear with a unique freewheel.

Bicycling YouTuber [Berm Peak] takes us through the design of this bike in his latest video which is also linked below. The original Buffalo bicycle was extremely rugged and durable, with a rear rack designed to carry up to 200 pounds and everything on the bike able to be repaired with little more than an adjustable wrench. The new freewheel adds a second gear to the bike which makes it easier to use it in hilly terrain, but rather than add a complicated and hard-to-repair derailleur the freewheel adds a second chain instead, and the rider can shift between the two gears by pedaling backwards slightly and then re-engaging the pedals.

Of course a few compromises had to be made here. While the new freewheel is nearly as rugged as the old one, it’s slightly more complex. However, they can be changed quite easily with simple tools and are small, affordable, and easy to ship as well. The bike also had to abandon the original coaster brake, but the new rim brakes are a style that are also easy to repair and also meant that the bike got a wheel upgrade as well. Bicycles like these are incredibly important in places where cars are rare or unaffordable, or where large infrastructure needed to support them is unreliable or nonexistent. We’ve seen other examples of bicycles like these being put to work in places like India as well.

Thanks to [Keith] for the tip!

Continue reading “Bicycle Adds Reliability With Second Chain” →

New Frontiers For Nissan Leaf Motor And Battery

January 14, 2025 by Bryan Cockfield 9 Comments

Nissan started off with a massive lead in the electric vehicle industry — their Leaf was the first mass-market EV available and the highest-selling EV until 2020. But the company has begun to lag behind other automotive manufacturers and their more diverse, modern offerings. As an example, the Leaf still doesn’t have active cooling for its battery packs. On the plus side, though, these cars are pretty easy to work on and parts for them are widely available. This includes the battery pack and motor, which can be dropped in to other non-EV Nissan products like this Nissan Frontier.

For conversions using the Leaf battery pack and motor, [Paul] points out that it’s important to find the motor with the inverter and power distribution unit all integrated together, rather than sourcing them all separately since they don’t always mix-and-match well. There are several third-party parts available for getting these motors running in other applications, including a coupler to mate the motor to a transmission. However, this still needs some custom fabrication to properly attach to the Frontier’s drivetrain. With a new controller as well, the Frontier engine can be pulled, the Leaf engine dropped in, and the battery set into the bed and connected.

A followup video shows [Paul] driving his new EV down a neighborhood street, but it looks like there are still a few things to polish up before it’s ready to hit the open highway including a more robust housing for the battery. But, if donor vehicles can be found like a truck body and Leaf drivetrain components, this type of modification can be done for a surprisingly small cost. These EV batteries can also be put to work as home power banks as well.

Continue reading “New Frontiers For Nissan Leaf Motor And Battery” →

A Street For Every Date

January 8, 2025 by Jenny List 6 Comments

Different cultures have their own conventions for naming locations, for example in the United Kingdom there are plenty of places named for monarchs, while in many other countries there are not. An aspect of this fascinated [Ben Ashforth], who decided to find all the streets in Europe named after auspicious dates, and then visit enough to make a calendar. He gave a lightning talk about it at last year’s EMF Camp, which we’ve embedded below.

Starting with an aborted attempt to query Google Maps, he then moved on to the OpenStreetMap database. From there he was able to construct a list of date-related street name across the whole of Europe, and reveal a few surprising things about their distribution. He came up with a routing algorithm to devise the best progression in which to see them, and with a few tweaks to account for roads whose names had changed, arrived at an epic-but-efficient traversal of the continent. The result is a full year’s calendar of street names, which you can download from his website.

Being used to significant Interrail travel where this is written, we approve of an algorithmically generated Euro trip. We’re indebted to [Barney Livingstone] for the tip, and we agree with him that 150 slides in a 5 minute talk is impressive indeed.

Continue reading “A Street For Every Date” →

Turning A Lada Into An EV With 50 Cordless Drills, Because Why Not?

January 1, 2025 by Donald Papp 47 Comments

[Garage 54] is no stranger to vehicle-related projects of the “because why not?” variety, and their latest is using 50 cordless drills combined into a monstrous mega-motor to turn a gutted (and extended) Lada into an electric vehicle (EV).

Doing this leans on some of [Garage 54]’s earlier projects, such as replacing the aforementioned Lada’s engine block with a frame containing sixteen chainsaws. That means they don’t need to start completely from scratch, and have a frame design that can drop into the vehicle once the “engine” is constructed.

Fifty cordless drills won’t set any efficiency records for EV engines, but it’s got a certain style.

Here’s what’s in the new engine: each of the drills has its chuck replaced with an aluminum pulley, and belts connect each group of drills to an output shaft. Ideally, every drill motor would run at the same time and at exactly the same speed, but one works with what they have. [Garage 54] originally worked to synchronize the drills by interfacing to each drill’s motor control board, but eventually opted to simply bypass all controls and power each drill’s motor directly from the batteries. Initial tests are done by touching bare cable ends with a turned-away face and squinted eyes, but we expect “Just A Big Switch” to end up in the final assembly.

It looks wild and we can think of more than a few inefficiencies present in a system like this, but the output shaft does turn and torque is being transferred, so the next step is interfacing to the car’s factory gearbox.

If it powers the car in any meaningful way, that Lada might very well become the world’s most gloriously hacked-together EV. And hey, if the power output of the EV motor is disappointing, you can just make your own.

Continue reading “Turning A Lada Into An EV With 50 Cordless Drills, Because Why Not?” →

38C3: Lawsuits Are Temporary; Glory Is Forever

December 29, 2024 by Elliot Williams 35 Comments

One of the blockbuster talks at last year’s Chaos Communications Congress covered how a group of hackers discovered code that allegedly bricked public trains in Poland when they went into service at a competitor’s workshop. This year, the same group is back with tales of success, lawsuits, and appearances in the Polish Parliament. You’re not going to believe this, but it’s hilarious.

The short version of the story is that [Mr. Tick], [q3k], and [Redford] became minor stars in Poland, have caused criminal investigations to begin against the train company, and even made the front page of the New York Times. Newag, the train manufacturer in question has opened several lawsuits against them. The lawsuit alleges the team is infringing on a Newag copyright — by publishing the code that locked the trains, no less! If that’s not enough, Newag goes on to claim that the white hat hackers are defaming the company.

What we found fantastically refreshing was how the three take all of this in stride, as the ridiculous but incredibly inconvenient consequences of daring to tell the truth. Along the way they’ve used their platform to speak out for open-sourcing publicly funded code, and the right to repair — not just for consumers but also for large rail companies. They are truly fighting the good fight here, and it’s inspirational to see that they’re doing so with humor and dignity.

If you missed their initial, more technical, talk last year, go check it out. And if you ever find yourself in their shoes, don’t be afraid to do the right thing. Just get a good lawyer.

Battery-Electric Ships: Coming Soon To A Harbor Near You?

December 26, 2024 by Maya Posch 76 Comments

When ships moved from muscle- and wind power to burning coal and other fossil fuels for their propulsion, they also became significantly faster and larger. Today’s cargo ships and ferries have become the backbone of modern civilization, along with a range of boat types. Even though tugs and smaller pleasure vessels are a far cry from a multi-thousand ton cargo or cruise ship, one would be hard-pressed to convert these boats back to a pure muscle or wind-based version. In short, we won’t be going back to the Age of Sail, but at the same time the fossil fuel-burning engines in these boats and ship come with their own range of issues.

Even if factors like pollution and carbon emissions are not something which keep you up at night, fuel costs just might, with these and efficiency regulations increasing year over year. Taking a page from alternative propulsions with cars and trucks, the maritime industry has been considering a range of replacements for diesel and steam engines. Here battery-electric propulsion is somewhat of an odd duck, as it does not carry its own fuel and instead requires on-shore recharging stations. Yet if battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) can be made to work on land with accompanying low ‘refueling’ costs, why not ships and boats?

A recent study by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) researchers Hee Seung Moon et al. as published in Nature Energy claims that a significant part of US maritime traffic can be electrified this way. Yet as a theoretical model, how close does it hit to the harsh realities imposed by this physical world which we live in?

Continue reading “Battery-Electric Ships: Coming Soon To A Harbor Near You?” →

Blinded By The Light: The Problem With LED Headlights

December 26, 2024 by Maya Posch 178 Comments

Having a good set of (working) headlights is a crucial feature of any motor vehicle, assuming you want to be able to see the road ahead of you when there’s a lack of sunshine. Headlights are also essential to be noticed by other cars and traffic participants, but if installed improperly they can end up blinding an opposing driver with potentially fatal results. This is a major worry with LED lamps that are increasingly being installed in cars, often replacing the old-style halogen bulbs that have a very different color spectrum and beam patterns, to the dismay of fellow road participants.

This headlight glare can also be simulated in driving simulators, as in a 2019 article by [B.C. Haycock] et al. where the effect is of course diminished because displays can only get so bright. Of note is that it’s not just LED lights themselves, but also taller vehicles and misaligned headlights, all of which makes it important that the angle of your car’s headlights is proper. You want to see the road in front of you, after all, not illuminate every house in the nearest settlement two klicks away.

Continue reading “Blinded By The Light: The Problem With LED Headlights” →