John M Riley
Elio Enthusiast
Has there been any serious discussion about an electric-motor drive for the Elio (and not only the rear wheel)? Is it even feasible?
John
John
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Electric Drive?
- Thread starter John M Riley
- Start date
much superfluous chatter about something that ain't gonna happen any time soon from EM .... facts are facts .... the technology simply isn't there to create an EV as small as an Elio that can travel up to 100 mph or cruise at interstate speeds for any significant distance .... now on the other hand, if a person wants a three wheel golf cart, yep, it can be done .... we have a few members who strongly favor EV's and keep the chatter going .... I've lost track of the number of electric trikes that have been presented and none at an EM price point project performance on par with the IAV powered Elio
uhm.... ditto what JEBar said. It'd be great to have an EV vehicle that could deliver the price point and mph of an Elio with at least a 150 to 200 mile range. Then there'd be several of us either buying both or switching to the EV entirely. But there's been a bit of chatter...enough to come to the conclusion that the EV's are at that level yet. EV's can match 1 or maybe two things but not all 3 (mostly fail at the price point).
larryboy
Elio Addict
What mileage gain could be realized if the Elio had a hub motor/generator on the rear wheel? Connected to a somewhat larger battery, not a huge one but something like the battery found in a truck or piece of heavy equipment. The motor would save/recapture some of the energy lost in braking and would allow the Elio to start from a stop in 2nd or 3rd gear. Now here is where it gets tricky. No alternator! If or when the battery fell below a certain charge the hub motor would start charging the battery while the Elio was in motion. When the battery was up to, say, 90% the hub motor would switch back to providing power.
On the highway the loss of the weight and drag of the alternator would some what offset the weight of the bigger battery and hub motor and might even result in a gain in MPG. Especially if the driver is prone to tailgating where he is applying some brake frequently. Around town, you could use electric power alone to go from one place to another that was near by. I live out in the country and the post office and library and pharmacy are a mile and a half away. I might be able to go there and run some errands without starting the IAV. I am sure the Elio will handle a few inches of snow but with a hub motor on the rear you could have all wheel drive for those moments that you really need it. Getting started after a stop or traveling from the garage to the plowed portion of the road.
One final advantage of this modification to the stock Elio is that it could be done by many of the folks on this forum. It would not involve big structural changes or big bucks. I could talk more about solar panels and battery chargers and the like but I would rather hear what someone else has to say.
Larry
Now that's IAV automotive engineering and the future of Elio.
CheeseheadEarl
Elio Addict
I found this in the IAV pdf, can one of you electric guys expound on this:
I'm well aware that ICE engines have a sweet spot, but always assumed electric had a fairly flat efficiency curve. Is it a big enough deal to warrant the use of a transmission, or is this more to allow use of a smaller drive motor?
I'm well aware that ICE engines have a sweet spot, but always assumed electric had a fairly flat efficiency curve. Is it a big enough deal to warrant the use of a transmission, or is this more to allow use of a smaller drive motor?
Torque and HP stay relatively flat through the entire power band, true. However art the drop of point it is a very drastic drop. Typical EV conversions will put in a small transmission to give a good range at low speed and high (2 gear trans works great, powerglides are popular). One gear is usually used to control torque on start and be able to handle around 45mph range. The next gear would be used for highway speeds to keep efficiency.
Did I explain that well enough?
Did I explain that well enough?
NSTG8R
Elio Addict
Not sure about EV motors, but I can tell you there's a pretty health spike in an AC motor's current draw at start up. Maybe the tranny's suppose to lessen the torque required to get the vehicle moving from a dead stop, thus lessening the current draw on the battery pack.