General Chat
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Welcome to TREVipedia.
Use this page for general chat. For discussion related to specific subsystems, use the appropriate discussion page.
8/03/2011
Materials Selection
How about using zero VOC surface coatings, biopolymers and basalt fiber for the construction?
Can help with the supply of those materials.
Ivan ivan@cfree.com.au
A moulded design is ok if it can include functionality, easy to use and replace parts, otherwise flat & rectangular frames might be more appropriate.
Making Progress: Forming a Group / Commercialisation...
11/10/2010
If anyone in Oz is interested in a group project contact kandalgil@hotmail.com There was a couple of us looking at building Electric Vehicles in Qld. I personaly was considerring converting my Porsche 924 to Electric, There is an EV book available at Jaycar ... features a EV Porsche 911 on the cover :) Nano technology for Batteries is being developed in Wacol in Brisbane and a lot of Solar Challenge stuff is made in Bribane from the guys that were involved in the Uni of Qld WSC a few years back, maybe SunShark. The Australian Electric Vehicle Association has been around since 1973 I think. The answer to your canopy sealing may be to use the same design they used to open and close the canopy on the Purvis Eureka that is / was a kit car produced in Victoria in the 1970s yes 40 years ago based on a VW.
http://www.cartype.com/pics/2971/small/eureka_80.jpg
Alan
Alan,
Some of the SunShark team went on to form Tritium, who make a very nice motor controller.
Team Trev has modifed the canopy on the original Trev so that it now hinges on the side, and put an automotive rubber seal around the edge. It is working well---we have just driven from Geneva to Shanghai. There are photographs in the Team Trev gallery.
Peter Pudney 22:52, 12 October 2010 (UTC)
I'd like to join a group to build a series of these (one each?) based in the UK (I live in Aberdeen). I don't have the time to do it all myself but I do have 5-10,000 GBP to invest, maybe more...
I'd consider banding together with (say) 50 other interested parties with a view to taking a share (ideally a controlling share) in a UK kit car company and directing them to develop and build 50 TREVs (say).
This would be an (if you like) 'open source' company. Owned by it's customers.
I apologise if this 'commercial approach' offends but I mean to own an electric microcar and grouping with others to achieve economies of scale is an effective approach.
I need to form a team with others with resource or skill contributions to make, and unless I've missed something here, publicity to get a TREV support movement and TREV demand up would be the first requirement.
I can't believe no one is actually contributing from a builders point of view, are any of you building a TREV? Is anyone else in the UK/Scotland/Aberdeen doing so ?
Lets get started...
OK so I'm new to contributing, If 'General Chat' can have child 'Chats' on different pages, please help by making one for Making Progress Forming a Group...
I'd be interested in such a collaboration. Sadly I'm in oregon I have a bridgeport mill, small lathe, welders, crane I also have a variety of electrical equipment, I can program microcontrollers and am somewhat of a realtime linux expert.
(Larry Winiarski 541-753-4921) ev@aquaflector.com
I have added a page for Builders -- Peter Pudney 06:22, 6 November 2009 (UTC)
Battery Power Only Or Is There More?
Is TREV intended to be battery-electric only, or should adding a small engine be considered? My experience driving three different EVs has been that it's risky to venture into the last third or so of the battery, due to variations in traffic and weather. On the other hand, if you don't use the vehicle and most of its battery most of the time, then you're wasting an expensive and resource-intensive item. Since both diesel oil and petrol have renewable substitutes, it wouldn't seem to take the "R" out of TREV to have some fuel aboard for those times when an otherwise right-size battery is just...not...quite...enough...(Joe, would you please get out and push?) It seems to be that TREV would be more interesting as daily transportation (and still be TREV) with the proper balance of battery and engine, driving first on the battery alone and then, if necessary, on the engine with the battery in reserve for leveling the load on a very small engine. (This is essentially the way of GM's Volt, "an EV with extended range".)
Our intention with the design of Trev was that it would be battery powered only. There are two main disadvantages to adding an engine (and fuel tank and cooling system and exhaust system):
- It increases the mass of the vehicle, which decreases the efficiency---you now have to carry significant extra mass that is not required for almost all of your trips (97% of daily driving in Adelaide is under 100 km, 87% of daily driving in Sydney is under 100 km).
- It increases the complexity of the vehicle. One of the key features of Trev is its simplicity.
Our original version had a range of over 100 km. Our around-the-world version had a range of over 200 km. Whatever the range, it does not take long to get used to it and plan your daily travel accordingly. (How often do you see mobility scooters stuck on the side of the road?) And if you do run out, electricity is not hard to find. Electric vehicles are starting to appear, and with them public charging infrastructure including emergency roadside charging services.
Anyone is welcome to build a Trev with a range extender. But our main design will be battery only.
Incidentally, in 2006 I travelled across the Pyrenees in France in a Renault Kangoo range-extended electric van, which were sold in Europe in 2003.
-- Peter Pudney 02:39, 18 March 2011 (UTC)
