Altc Designs

[AriLea]

...That should about do it.

Oops number 3 didn't upload(attached). Over the next week I'll upload the others of the sketchup snaps.

Fairly early on I knew that it wasn't well known that front wheel drive was a much safer configuration than other 3wheel configurations. You can make others work, but it's much less forgiving. Conventional suspension design is relatively easy at this point, given all the available knowledge base. The real chalenge for me, given what people currently knew, was proving that these 2F1R layouts could be acceptible visually. Looking at the Elio you would assume it's a no brainer. But in reality not many acceptible examples existed. I can't fathum out why. But there were a few. The 1945 French Mathis microcar for example. Or the 1957 Motoplan by Carl Jurisch. Therefore, I made it my personal goal to show that almost any style can be presented nicely in a 2F1R platform. I'll show some of that (image morphs) after the sketchup snaps are uploaded. But keep in mind, automotive style is ART. Some will always hate it, and some will always love it, and there is everything in between too. However, some styles are a bit more universal. I was seeking that, but always in keeping with economy and cost.

 

[AriLea]

So in reference to the prior two posts.There are any number of ways to construct an Reverse Trike. Here are some that were considered by the hobbie group I am a member of at Yahoo (Cabinscooters) see attached. The top concept is an upgrade kit for a cheep Chinese scooter, shown without the scooter drive, just the kit.

Next is the DF EV chassis.

There IS no gear shift in the DF. This is possible by simply putting in a bigger motor than nessary. Of course this can give you massive acceleration and still give very good ecconomy. By making it a dual-motor, you don't need a differencial. Electrics can do all that. Here is the link to a movie of the DF 3d model.

 

[AriLea]

The third image from the post above, I called that the Detalidon Formula. (=DartFootedMonster) or DF. It was limited to a single driver as a 100% commuter vehicle. DF was carefully contrived to fit a range of body styles. The idea was, you just can't make every body happy at once, so allow options. To illustrait I also created a number of styles that fit seemlessly on that box structure, with the driver in that one position.. I like to put names on things, so I called it the LaQue, French for Lacqure. It looks very aerodynamic, but just like some other 50's styles, the rounded trailing forms have fairly poor aerodynamics starting at the back of the side window. One should truncate rather than fully round things at the rear. But it looked very nice. And better if you can taper to a full point. That would of course leave no place for a license plate.

 

[AriLea]

So these five all use the DF chassis. The second one was an attempt to show how flat-wrap material could be used. All this is of course all directed at Kit Cars and DIY construction, simply because mass production isn't available to a single individual. The real goal for me was to impress a manufacturer. You can only guess at my glee when Elio Motors came onto the stage.

 

[AriLea]

One of the things I studied, was just how much EV power could you pack into an inline seater and still have a nice aerodynamic shape. This design is so very low, the headlights are on pods that pop-up to reach legal height.

 

[AriLea]

So I started doing some style investigation based on a 'Morph' of the XR3. I called the UFO. It was very popular with the discussion group I did this with. I never did achive the cool look of the XR3 'morph' image. But as a Tandom concept, that only allowed an EV drive left and right of the driver's feet. AS a single driver it did allow a motorcycle drive. But front wheel drive was (and remains) more interesting to me.

 

[AriLea]

So in support of various suggestions and desires of the Cabinscooters group, I created these visualizations. If you make one choice or another it's going to have an effect apon the vehicle as a whole. Talk is one thing, visual results are often something else. The first(the BelAero made for Tom Bell) image is a windshield that is often suggested. Very aerodynamic, but only practicle in blown plastic, which has several issues. It scratches, it gives a very hot interior, and visual distortions can be an irratent. The second image is just a wrendering of the Pulse-Litestar for comparison. The third is a motrocycle drive train with a replacible subframe for any motorcycle engine up to 400cc. The forth is a repurposed and chopped automotive body with a motorcycle engine in frontwheel drive layout. The others are variations on the rear drve layout.
The fith image was a varient to see the visual effect of a flat-glass windshield.

 

[AriLea]

I always figure that one way to advance a design is try and accomidate the suggestions of others. Solving thier issues stretches your imagination. So these five images make a visual representation so some of those thoughts. The first three implement an air cooled 400cc motorcycle engine in front wheel drive. How do open wheels compare to wheel wells? How does an exposed engine compare to an enclosure? Can flat glass be part of acceptible style? A big win for inexpensive DIY projects.
This last one examines the front door configuration for tandom seating. There just seemed a need for a second entry for the passenger, and that was added. One last thought, what if a little more stabiblity were needed, hence the tail. Kind of a goofy after thought. But it looks interesting. It really was an attempt to cross combine two famous bubble-cars, the MesserSchmitt and the Isetta/Heinkle.

 

[AriLea]

One issue with all vehicles but especially interesting for three wheelers is transverse stabiblity vs absorbing bumps. The softer your springs, the more you tip in a turn. The issue there is not so much the roll of the body, it more about the geometery of the tires on the road, you want full contact. This is why unequal AArms exist. So you may want to apply more to control the sway of a car. Or possibly do some geometric changes to the suspension while turning. So I examined a EV with transverse leaf suspension and mechnical tilt. This image shows the resulting proposed vehicle. The color is very Elio-esk isn't it? (No, I don't think anyone at Elio has ever seen this one, until maybe now.) In ths case the tilt is only just enough to keep the rear tire in full contact, flat within 2 degrees.

 

[AriLea]

The image above is a cross post from the Exo thread. It's a look at styling to fit a scooter drive similar to the drive that the Exo has.