Electric Exige?? (Dale Vince - Wind Car)

doug · Feb 18, 2009

Well I assume that's the battery box, since that's where they previously showed they intended to put their batteries. Looks like just an empty plastic shell at the moment (with an opening at the back).

Zerocarbonista releases last latest video on wind-powered sports car - AutoblogGreen

vfx · Feb 18, 2009

dpeilow said:
I suppose you could say that one big battery box is much like any other, but that does look quite ESS-like...

Thinkin' the same thing. Least they could have painted it red.

doug · Feb 26, 2009

Video of the Wind Car on the road:

TEG · Feb 26, 2009

Doug, you know that is an old video of a dubious (joke?) wind powered car, not Dale's Exige conversion.
Does it really belong here?

It was previously linked here:
http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/tesla-motors/428-mythical-wind-powered-ev.html

Fixed link for new forum:
http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/428-The-mythical-wind-powered-EV

doug · Feb 26, 2009

TEG said:
Doug, you know that is an old video of a dubious (joke?) wind powered car, not Dale's Exige conversion.
Does it really belong here?

Thank you, Captain Obvious. :wink:
I believe there is room for occasional pun-based humor.

Here's an old EVcast interview from November of last year:
EVcast #126: Interview with Dale Vince, Founder of Ecotricity

doug · Mar 19, 2009

doug said:
Danny of Danny's Contentment talking with Dale Vince. I guess this was recorded before the Lotus EV announcement.

Talking to Dale Vince from Ecotricity about the ‘wind car’. | Danny's Contentment

Part 2 of the video above.

Talking to Dale Vince from Ecotricity. Powering all the EV’s.. | Danny's Contentment

doug · Mar 19, 2009

Wind car update.
Zero Carbonista's wind-powered car with no name keeps moving forward

The car with no name | Transport | Zerocarbonista

Article in the Guardian:
Britain's pioneering electric supercar: powered by wind | Environment | guardian.co.uk

It is faster out of the blocks than a V12 Ferrari and can do 0-60mph in four seconds. It will go faster than 140mph and can be fully charged over lunch. But the most remarkable thing about the first British electric supercar is that it is not being built by one of the world's great car companies with a limitless research budget, but has been knocked up in a few months by some middle-aged engineers in a Norfolk garage from off-the-shelf parts mostly available on the web.
...

I'll be interested to see if they're ever able to achieve those specs.

An embeddable youtube version of the video isn't yet available. But watching it, it appears each wheel has an independent controller.

doug · Apr 4, 2009

This part 7 went up on Youtube a couple days ago.
[youtube]H1o7tKdBu7U[/youtube]

They never bother to talk about the technical aspects of this project, but the videos show a bit. I took some quick screen caps of this latest one.

Belt assembly and motor housing.

Dual motor and belt assembly going into the chassis.

doug · Apr 4, 2009

Each motor has it's own liquid cooled controller box.

I wonder if that's where they really plan to mount the controllers. That side hose likely runs to the radiator up front.

doug · Apr 4, 2009

Those white PVC test boxes appear to contain industrial off-the-shelf electrical components.

Looks like for the purpose of this test, each motor (and thus each rear wheel) has it's own hand held controller.

I'm still interested in what approach they plan to use to address the relative wheel speed issue since they don't have a mechanical differential.

vfx · Apr 4, 2009

Dude, buy a Tesla.

WarpedOne · Apr 4, 2009

I'm still interested in what approach they plan to use to address the relative wheel speed issue since they don't have a mechanical differential.

But they do have two separate motors and two separate controllers. They can just ignore that relative speed issue, inner motor would work a little bit harder, outer a little bit easier.

doug · Apr 4, 2009

vfx said:
Dude, buy a Tesla.

Yeah, Dale Vince typically either pretends Tesla doesn't exist, or tries to take a dig at them.

WarpedOne said:
But they do have two separate motors and two separate controllers. They can just ignore that relative speed issue, inner motor would work a little bit harder, outer a little bit easier.

You're probably right, but it depends on how their controlling them. I don't know the details of those UQM controllers, but they likely control for frequency (speed). And then things are a little complicated to balance the two.
Actually, if the controllers are able to (ahem) control for torque (and they should be), then they should just be able to set the torque for both wheels to be equal. Then you have the equivalent of an open differential. By setting a limit of the maximum difference in wheel speed, you should be able to simulate a limited slip. Again, they don't bother to discuss these details.

vfx · Apr 4, 2009

doug said:
Yeah, Dale Vince typically either pretends Tesla doesn't exist, or tries to take a dig at them.

We been following them so we know there is more to the project than just making and electric Elise (like Zytec and Detroit Electric (and probably Lotus someday)) but that video showed nothing significant in specs or design that would make it particularly different from a Tesla (like that wacky bodywork we saw a few months ago).

I do [plan on putting a wind turbine (3 to 5KW) someday. Will that put a stop to Dale's folley?
:smile:
I kid. If Tesla did not exist I would be absolutely thrilled at what he is doing so I wish him well as competition is healthy.