[Greenbuilding] re: I gotcher donor car right here

[Robert Tom]

On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 13:47:52 -0500, Speireag Alden <speireag at gmail.com>  
wrote:

>
> On 2007, Dec 13, at 19:02, Lawrence Lile wrote:
>
>> Chevy S-10, busted engine. Cheap.  Except for the small matter of
>> getting it from Phoenix, it is a perfect donor car for an electric
>> conversion.
>
>      Oh, how I wish I had the price of a conversion.

Wouldn't converting a Murrican truck to an electric vehicle be like trying  
to convert a McMansion to an energy-efficient/passive solar/healthy Green  
home ?

ie They're usually pigs to begin with and crappily-designed/built ones at  
that.

Isn't the strategy (whether it be a Green home or a Green vehicle) to  
first streamline the design of the envelope (and hence minimise the energy  
load) before attempting to utilise renewable energy ?

I saw somewhere earlier in this thread a figure of something like $8k+ to  
do a conversion.

The price of the electric "truck" that I mentioned in a post the other day  
was something like $2-3k IIRC.   http://www.pinxvalueplus.ca/trivehicle.htm

True, it was "only" a three-wheeled vehicle like those one typically sees  
used extensively in Third World countries as opposed to being something  
like the monstrosities on steroids that pass for trucks over here in the  
First World but I recall a series of photos that Beel Steen sent to me a  
year or two ago that depicted some of the amazing loads that people in the  
Third World pile onto those ubiquitous little 3-wheeled "trucks".

As mentioned the other day, I liked that 3-wheeled truck all except for  
the electric motor.  It would have been far more likeable if it were a  
pedal-powered vehicle with an electric assist.  I forget where I saw it  
but I recall having seen a three-wheeled, treadle-powered, 2-passenger  
enclosed vehicle that was capable of attaining speeds of something like 90  
kph. That should be fast enough for anybody.

And unlike an all-electric vehicle, it's range would not be limited by the  
size of the battery bank. ie Want to increase the range of an all-electric  
vehicle ? Then you need to increase the size of the battery bank. Want to  
increase the size of the battery bank ? Then you need to increase the size  
of the vehicle. Want to increase the size of the vehicle ? Then you need  
to increase the size of battery bank (and the vicious circle goes on and  
on).


-- 
=== * ===
Rob Tom
Kanata, Ontario, Canada
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