He hasn't paid for fuel in 10 years, has never run out of charge, and was inspired by a famous race across the outback. Retired industrial engineer Ziga Dorkic wants to show you how it's done — for the Earth.
Thought of you fine folks when I came across this article on aussie.zone
three 10-horsepower electric motors from ride-on lawn mowers.
Oh I thought he had ICE lawmower motors for some kind of hybrid engine.
If you only have a small regular commute like 5-20 km for work or shopping you really only need a tiny electric car and battery.
I would have loved to have / build something like this but in my well regulated european country it’s near impossible to get this street legal certification. A mobile home / caravan with 12m² of roof space and 6 kWh of solar panels.
Instead I want to build a solar powered boat. You don’t need to move so fast and can have roof surface area and you can travel the world without moving. It’s not exactly easier than converting a car though lol.
I would have loved to have / build something like this but in my well regulated european country it’s near impossible to get this street legal certification.
Yep. :( The certification manual here, in a moderately regulated European country, is about 250 pages long. Fortunately, not all chapters apply to moped-cars. If one really really wants, moped-cars are the way to break through the barrier.
Something like “L7e”? There are some European classiciations that are theoretically pretty interesting. But you still have to get certified parts, like motor without electric noise and batteries and controller and (I think) still have to test them together in a certified expensive lab. Also windshields.
I wish we had a constitution that costs arising from bureaucratic regulations always have to be paid by the state and never by the citizen. That would fix regulations real quick :D
Yep. I’ve done an L2e, and some day I will manage an L7e. :)
Interference testing was not needed. The motor wattage and motor controller wattage labels were examined. I could have dropped in more power in a mood for forgery, but I was in an honest mood. :)
I want to build a tadpole recumbent / cargo bike for shopping, then maybe a quadricycle and a velomobile with motor for pedelec. I wish they’d allow pedelec up to 50km/h instead of 25 without needed certification and insurance. That’d be a huge boost for the environment. But even the L1e with 45km/h seems purposefully gimped for city traffic to protect car manufacturers.
But a proper “recumbent motorcycle” that can go 100km/h with 3 or 4 wheels and is ultra lightweight would be awesome too.
Myself, I went for 45 km/h officially (unoffially, on a flat road, I could reach 53 km/h). While turning, for safety reasons, I limited myself to far lower speeds (25 km/h).
Designing a car suspension system for reasonably high speed seems hard, I have never tried, instead choosing the robust and crude solutions to get a reasonable assurance of strength.
Motorcycles seem easier. Especially since most of factory-made motorcycles use a sprocket and chain - a very flexible system for dropping in other power sources. I imagine that with enough know-how to get through type certification, a lot of combustion bikes could become e-bikes with excellent riding characteristics. :)
Well to go slow you only need very little power. But it goes up exponentially much more like with wheels. So you need to design a boat that is long, thin, light and with a large roof surface area. Basically a catamaran or a power trimaran. Then you want glass solar so it’s affordable and lasts 20+ years but that is top heavy. But theoretically with the right design solar panels are cheaper than a sail and less complex and easier to maintain than sail+motor+house battery.
But 4-5 knots (~mph) is quite easy. From my amateur calculations 6-7 knots is already hard. I mean those speeds that are sustainable for 24/7 cruising. If you have a large car battery you can go vrooom for a few hours and then slowly recharge over a few days. But my goal is really a slow but seaworthy condomaran.
Oh I thought he had ICE lawmower motors for some kind of hybrid engine.
If you only have a small regular commute like 5-20 km for work or shopping you really only need a tiny electric car and battery.
I would have loved to have / build something like this but in my well regulated european country it’s near impossible to get this street legal certification. A mobile home / caravan with 12m² of roof space and 6 kWh of solar panels.
Instead I want to build a solar powered boat. You don’t need to move so fast and can have roof surface area and you can travel the world without moving. It’s not exactly easier than converting a car though lol.
Yep. :( The certification manual here, in a moderately regulated European country, is about 250 pages long. Fortunately, not all chapters apply to moped-cars. If one really really wants, moped-cars are the way to break through the barrier.
Something like “L7e”? There are some European classiciations that are theoretically pretty interesting. But you still have to get certified parts, like motor without electric noise and batteries and controller and (I think) still have to test them together in a certified expensive lab. Also windshields.
I wish we had a constitution that costs arising from bureaucratic regulations always have to be paid by the state and never by the citizen. That would fix regulations real quick :D
Yep. I’ve done an L2e, and some day I will manage an L7e. :)
Interference testing was not needed. The motor wattage and motor controller wattage labels were examined. I could have dropped in more power in a mood for forgery, but I was in an honest mood. :)
Oh wow very nice, congrats!
I want to build a tadpole recumbent / cargo bike for shopping, then maybe a quadricycle and a velomobile with motor for pedelec. I wish they’d allow pedelec up to 50km/h instead of 25 without needed certification and insurance. That’d be a huge boost for the environment. But even the L1e with 45km/h seems purposefully gimped for city traffic to protect car manufacturers.
But a proper “recumbent motorcycle” that can go 100km/h with 3 or 4 wheels and is ultra lightweight would be awesome too.
Myself, I went for 45 km/h officially (unoffially, on a flat road, I could reach 53 km/h). While turning, for safety reasons, I limited myself to far lower speeds (25 km/h).
Designing a car suspension system for reasonably high speed seems hard, I have never tried, instead choosing the robust and crude solutions to get a reasonable assurance of strength.
Motorcycles seem easier. Especially since most of factory-made motorcycles use a sprocket and chain - a very flexible system for dropping in other power sources. I imagine that with enough know-how to get through type certification, a lot of combustion bikes could become e-bikes with excellent riding characteristics. :)
I’m confused as fuck as to how he got through the regulations to build it here in Australia as well
I suspect that some people manage it because they know people / worked with them and they give them a bit of leeway. So you can get lucky.
I just watched a video where a guy buld a little solar panel boat and i was kindo shocked how well it worked
Well to go slow you only need very little power. But it goes up exponentially much more like with wheels. So you need to design a boat that is long, thin, light and with a large roof surface area. Basically a catamaran or a power trimaran. Then you want glass solar so it’s affordable and lasts 20+ years but that is top heavy. But theoretically with the right design solar panels are cheaper than a sail and less complex and easier to maintain than sail+motor+house battery.
But 4-5 knots (~mph) is quite easy. From my amateur calculations 6-7 knots is already hard. I mean those speeds that are sustainable for 24/7 cruising. If you have a large car battery you can go vrooom for a few hours and then slowly recharge over a few days. But my goal is really a slow but seaworthy condomaran.
If you make it comfy enough you won’t mind the slower speed.