AdamB wrote:
Range anxiety in gassers doesn't exist with even half assed trip planning across North America. Including to Prudhoe Bay Alaska or Goose Bay Labrador. Could come in handy in Mongolia or Siberia perhaps?
You can still run out of fuel if you're not paying attention, or if the nearest gas station within range of what remains in your tank is closed. And you can usually purchase gasoline in most places, if you have the money for it, but what if you don't? This design was done in consideration of the possibility that gasoline may not be as readily or easily available as it is today, and the same for electricity. That said, if there were an affordable light-weight fuel cell that could strip electricity by breaking down gasoline or ethanol, you best believe I'd have one for my vehicle, just to increase its versatility in possible fueling options. So yeah, having the ability to take this to Mongolia or Siberia if the need ever arose, is basically part of the design constraint, even if going to those places isn't an explicit goal.
Fueling options that are either present or very soon to be implemented:
-grid electricity
-pedaling
-regenerative braking
-solar electricity
Any combination of the above, or any above item in isolation, can move the vehicle.
I can run the human drivetrain and electric drivetrain independently of each other. If there's no grid electricity available, I'll have solar panels, which could easily give 50-60 miles per day(the math suggests that at least, but haven't gotten the chance to test this). If the solar panels fail and there's no grid electricity, I could pedal it up a hill and re-capture some energy on the downhill, and perhaps over 300 miles of riding in hilly areas I'll be able to fully recharge my battery pack and get 150-200 miles of motorized range. If the electric drive system fails, it's still pedalable. If the bicycle drivetrain fails, it still has an electric drive system.
Being able to run it on gasoline or diesel or ethanol or similar would fir the overarching philosophy in its design. That being, off-grid rapid transportation. I could even tow a homemade camper trailer with it, and that greatly negatively impacts range. Being able to use gasoline would be worth the expense in such a scenario where such a trailer is towed for long distances, but if one makes enough stops with functioning outlets to plug into, gasoline will still be purely optional. Unfortunately, gasoline engines are much too heavy for this application, but damn would a small fuel cell stack and a half gallon storage container for fuel go a VERY long way with this vehicle, even towing an unaerodynamic trailer.
The unnecessary felling of a tree, perhaps the old growth of centuries, seems to me a crime little short of murder. ~Thomas Jefferson