6th European Seminar on Velomobile Design

designseminar-smallThe 6th European Seminar on Velomobile Design, held in Copenhagen this past October 16-17, brought together velomobile enthusiasts, owners and builders from around the world to discuss the current state of the art and how velomobiles can build public visibility in proportion to the great utility that they can provide.  Every paper presented offered enlightening perspectives on, for example, design technology like Ingo Kollibay’s Four Wheeled Velomobiles, increasing social acceptance like Antal Joo’s and Gabor Joo’s Possibility and Situation of Velomobile Riding in Hungary and Jurgen Eick’s depiction of living with a velomobile as a primary vehicle for the last 20 years (Caution, large downloads).  Not to forget, I also presented a paper on the development of the Turanga velomobile.

The complete papers can be found here and I’ll be blogging about some of the most notable points of the whole trip over the next few weeks.

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Power of DC 2009 Autocross

Though the eMR2 couldn’t be there, this Saturday’s Power of DC autocross event hosted a variety of factory and conversion EVs from all over the east coast.  Three Teslas, including a Sport model, tore around the course with the Sport model setting fastest time of the day by rounding the course in under 18 seconds. Though the Teslas set the pace, it was a Mini-E that set the record for the most runs as it rounded the track nearly  all afternoon.

Among the conversions, surprisingly it was a VW Rabbit pickup that cut the cleanest path around the cones despite it’s nearly 3/4 ton of batteries.  A sunburst yellow Destiny 2000 (based on a Pontiac Fiero chassis) gave it a run for the money but the Rabbit’s driver was an obviously experienced hand who could make the most of his car’s abilities.

Other interesting vehicles that ran the course included the WVU Formula Lightning racecar, a Porsche 944 conversion and a daily driver VW Jetta.  Below the pictures are the times for all the day’s runners, courtesy of Chip Gribben.

AUTOCROSS
Saturday, August 29
place/et/driver/vehicle/runs

Production EVs
1) 17.761 – Dave Bolling – 2009 red Tesla Sport (31 runs)
2) 17.979 – Don Auker – 2008 blue Tesla (44 runs)
3) 18.718 – Tom Jamison – 2009 prismatic blue Tesla (19 runs)
4) 19.316 – Ken Barbour – 2009 Mini-E (64 runs)
5) 23.289 – Bryan Murtha – RAV-4 EV (5 runs)

Conversion EVs
1) 21.214 – Dave Cover – Porsche 944 (6 runs)
2) 21.948 – Alan Arrinson – VW Rabbit truck (13 runs)
3) 22.648 – Doug Stansfield – White Hyundai Tiburon (5 runs)
4) 23.441 – Bob Rice – VW Jetta (11 runs)
5) 24.842 – West Virginia University – Formula Lightning (9 runs)
6) 26.643 – Joe Lado – Destiny 2000 Fiero (24 runs)

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A Week of Gas-Free Commuting

Finally, this past week I was able to enjoy commuting in the eMR2 v2.0, equipped with a new single speed transmission, motor coupler and batteries, every day.

There’s still some mechanical work to do, such as address the howling rear wheel bearing and sticky CV joint, but all the EV conversion components are performing as designed.

Pictures and video coming soon, as well as a report from Power of DC happening tomorrow in Hagerstown.

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