Here’s the third in our series of monthly wind car videos.
Video production: Tim Walter Associates Limited
You can see the body really starting to take shape here, and hear Peter talk about ‘toughening up’ of the look, from his original.
We’ve ‘placed’ all the parts within the car now and began machining/producing some of the bigger components, like the transmission.
And the batteries have arrived. Crazy thing about that was, to travel by ship they needed to be in their own 40 foot container, for safety reasons – but it was OK to stick them in the hold of a Jumbo jet, as they are… Not sure how that works!
Hope you enjoy the vid.
Cheers.
hummm how should i start
Excellent job guys!!!!!!!
i am in guys i just love the idea of taking on the big players infect i was working on a script of a documentary to investigate why big companies like Toyota, ford and GM did not built EV in 1990 how could have they ignored the power of electricity.
infect there is big big chain of companies and countries that dont want people to get off the patrol cars like
a) if Toyota scrap its combustion engine and related technology it would lose billions on the plants and same with all the companies
b) all oil producing countries give massive grants to research on better fuel efficient combustion engines so that their oil continues to sell.
c) there was no sense in the govts arround the world to see this oil crises coming or they could have made companies to build and alternative car or build a GOVT department for sole research in this field.
and here we are 15 years behind the schedule to build a electric car.
but i am sure that guys like you and your team will prove that if you are honest with aim to help the environment and ordinary people then you can do any thing like
a camera manufacturer did
http://www.red.com
they took on sony, canon and all big camera makers and proved that world best motion and still camera can be produced in 16 the price what sony cameras are sold for.
and they are doing very well and on the verge of becoming the big players in holywood motion picture industry
i can see you and your team going in this direction of you are able to finish this car in next 5 months.
sorry for such a long comment (i cant stop my self somehow).
thanks for doing what i wanted do (kick the a** of big players).
Cheers
Salman
Wow, it’s looking good. How about calling it the “cyclone” that’s a meaty name! Can’t wait to buy one. Although I wish you could do over a tonne in it!!
wow! Great stuff! Although there is a part of me that isn’t too bothered how they look (what’s wrong with looking like an Exige?), as long as they work, and give good aerodynamic performance. In reducing the drag, are you still maintaining a good front/rear lift balance?
Btw, what are these batteries like? Are they like mobile phone/laptop batteries (but much bigger)? Or are they like car lead-acid batteries (but bigger)? I had always thought car batteries weren’t allowed on planes…
Are we still only a third of the way through? 🙁
Awesome!
=-)
Great looking thing- will it be ready for April so you can come to our green expo in it? http://www.ukaware.com
Hey Dale,
you probably know all about this, but Santa Pod drag-racing strip are having an “Alternative Energy” racing day, Friday 24th April
http://www.aeracing.org/
http://www.santapod.co.uk/e_aeracing.php
I’m not really bothered about cars, or motorsport in general, but I do love going to drag-racing. It’s so over the top, and I love seeing the work that individuals and small independent teams put in to their hand-built cars. Some of them are just amazing, proper wacky races. And then there’s the jet-cars and monster-trucks …
You don’t have to be “fastest” either. For a lot of the races, you say what time you think you’re going to do the run in, and the “winner” is the one who is closest to their prediction. Or something like that.
what do you think?
Toby
Dale
If a small generator was fitted to the car to charge the battery only, this would extend the range of the car. I know there would be co2 emmissions from the generator but it could be used for emergency only use to get you home.
Just an idea.
Derek Thomas
I was watching the news the other day, and they were saying that the reason the US congress ‘will’ bailout the struggling American Auto Industry, despite them making tragicly wasteful and prehistoric dead end vehicles, is because an estimated 3 to 5 million American jobs directly or indirectly rely on the ‘Big 3’.
That says it all really. As we might say.. snookered!
Maybe we Brits are in a better position to grow an EV industry. I mean atleast we don’t have to shut down much industry to set this one up! To my knowledge we’re not quite as hooked on old ways.
Hello – for anyone who wants to embed/share the youtube version of this video – it is available here: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WRjRQLNyHY4
@Justin – Great name! I love it and can I second it – Cyclone
@Jeffery – Yes they are like the ones you find in laptops. The big difference is that they are deep cycle and that means you can drain them without damage… whereas car batteries hate to be drained completely.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-polymer
@Dale – The reason you had to use a single container is insurance. Lead acid batteries will do more damage to other items in the container (also highly flamible) and the shipping company would be liable. Whilst your batteries will not do as much damage the insurance company will still have this as a claus. Plane cargo insurance is slightly different and your batteries may well have come via a passenger plane. However some carriers will not allow large Lith-ion like yours…. looks like you got away with it.
Could also try calling it the Hurricane (powerful and windy!)although I realise it’s the name of a WWII fighter plane.
What of your next project Dale? What about a wind powered Bus?? Sounds crazy but it wouldn’t have to go that fast and I’m sure the government could back you up. Most of the stinky diesel buses in Manchester hang around the depot long enough to recharge. Would certainly clean up air polution.
Bring on the wind electric revolution!
Dale,
Thanks for making a difference. I love what you are doing with the car and can’t wait to see the next instalments.
My first point is that everytime anybody mentions an electric car the masses shout and screem about the batteries used, thus trying to nul and void any argument that electricity can be a clean and green renewable power source. Surely there are enough intelligent minds out there to create a truely 100% recycleable battery.
My second point is and I am no engineer,would it be possible to power a turbine for a car through gears from the axles there by dramatically improving the power of the turbine than if taken from the axle alone.(or would gears impove the power of the wind turbines on your car)
Finally, I pass the Ecotricity wind turbines at Avonmouth every day and they look great.
Cheers Tim Richards
You need a name that in some way links the car to the wind factor or better still (the tricky bit) to the issue of sustainability.
What about ‘Revolution’, ‘Revolve’ or ‘Revolver’ for a name? You could put a revolving wind turbine at the end of the badge! You could also highlight the ‘evolution’ within Revolution or the ‘evolve’ within Revolve(r)!!
– Apparently Boris Johnson wants to replace some/all of city halls 8000 vehicles with electric cars! What do you think Dale, can your A Team handle an order for 8000?!! I’m sure Boris won’t mind going to work in sports cars with a 0-60 of 4 seconds! 😉
@ Karl
Thanks for the info. I see that they are not just lithium-ion but lithium-ion POLYMER, which I have previously not heard of, but it makes sense to use them (except for when it comes time to make a cheaper version!). Impressive.
Hmmmm, careful you don’t short circuit the battery though… The thought of the car exploding wouldn’t be very funny, even if it makes me think of the Italian Job’s “You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off” scene…
Thanks Salman, very much for the support.
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Thanks Justin, like the name, it will do a tonne by the way, well over. Fourth vid just about to be posted. Two more and it should be on the road… Cheers.
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Hi Jeffrey, we’re minimising drag, mostly by shutting up all the body holes that are there for show or cooling, as far as I know there’s no detrimental affect on front/rear lift. One thing we have done though is improve the front/rear weight distribution of the standard car, to an almost ideal ratio (according to our A team… 🙂 ). The batteries are much bigger than phone ones and much smaller than lead acid, imagine a sheet of A4 paper about 5mm wide…. That’s roughly it and we have 90 odd of them. We’re def further than one third through the project, I’d guess 50% or so. Couple of more months and we should be there. Cheers.
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Hi Jodie – it should indeed be fully up and running by then. Drop us the details of your expo and we’ll see if we can set something up, the more events we get it to the better… 🙂 Cheers
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Hi Toby, Oh yeah, that sounds like fun. Would def like to be there. I also hear there’s an Isle of Man race event for EB’s (Electric Bikes) starting this year – won’t be long before Formula one turns into Formula Zero. There’s already a karting race series using the title, how long before Bernie E and the crew get to the same place – 5 years is my guess. OK maybe ten… 🙂 Cheers.
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Thanks Derek, that’s a viable idea. I’ve seen concept cars actually that are designed to run permanently like this. Using a generator to charge batteries gives you greater (petrol) fuel efficiency than an ICE engine for driving, and the batteries drive electric motors which have efficiencies of around 95% – the whole package can give up to 200 mpg – or so the designers claim. It’s an interesting approach. Cheers.
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Thanks Chris – the Big Three are still swinging in the wind as I write this. Bush hasn’t been able to bail them out and rumours are Obama doesn’t want to… That would be a turn up. We can hope. But either way, no amount of tax dollars can resist the inevitable, nobody wants to buy American cars (not even Americans) and it’s an irony (to me at least) that it’s the free market/capitalist system that dictates the Big Three must ‘mutate or die’. My guess is they can’t mutate by anywhere near enough fast enough. Cheers.
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Thanks for the possible explanation Karl. Useful to have some insurance insights, doesn’t look quite so crazy knowing this. Cheers.
Thanks Justin, Like the name. Am reminded of the Bob Dylan song. A bus was next on the list, but now I’m not sure. I think the same though, don’t need to be fast, stand around a lot of the day (could be charging) – should be easy enough to do. Tempted by a bike next, then a tractor – if the cash holds out… 🙂 Cheers.
i just saw a video of a bunch of guys doing bodywork on a car, some were doing bodywork others were talking about doing bodywork, pretty big waste of time. how about this, put the car together and make a video of it driving down the road.
@James (and all the other Youtubers) – the video is now available on Youtube: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wXLDCNw60BE
I’ve seen your videos on YouTube. You were worrying about electric cars being taken as white goods? Think *TGV*, not your average white good 🙂
Thanks Tim. Our car won’t have turbines on it, not sure if that’s a misunderstanding – if not I’ve not understood your ref to axles and gears. Cheers.
Thanks Chris. I like the sound of revolution. We’ve pitched an idea towards Boris – basically since he said he’d like his next car to be electric, we’ve offered to build it for him – he can chose whatever car he likes, and we’ll transform it. Not heard back yet. Cheers.
James you’ve just given away the plot of episode 6, shame on you… 🙂