Sometimes a new project idea grips my brain with sudden, sticky determination. I came back from Burning Man thinking almost nonstop about a couple of small electric vehicles I’d like to build for next year. The first is a jumbo-size electric skateboard. I brought a normal electric skateboard to the playa in 2007, but the playa beat it hard, and after only a couple of rides the suspension was destroyed. It was also geared too high for the dusty, rutted condition of BRC roads after the first day or two. Of course you can buy larger, burlier “off road” skateboards, but they get expensive very quickly, and don’t have the kind of range I’d want at Burning Man. So I bought a four-wheeled electric mobility scooter at a garage sale ($150!) and took off all the bodywork. It has a 1-HP, 3400 RPM motor with differential, four pneumatic tires, a steering linkage, and two 12V batteries – perfect! Next I’ll replace the motor controller with something more appropriate for a skateboard, then add a deck and set it up for tilt steering. Add on some obnoxious LEDs and it’ll be done.

The next vehicle I have in mind is something like the Atomic Zombie Streetfox: a recumbent-style reverse trike, with two steering wheels in front and a drive wheel in the back. I plan to build it out of mountain bike components, so each wheel will be independently suspended, and an array of deep-cycle batteries under the driver’s knees should power it up to about 20-25 mph. That’s fast enough I could conceivably use it to ride to work and back – and Google already has electric-vehicle charging stations in the parking garage…

Oh well, who knows if I’ll actually finish it all, but it’s certainly interesting to think about. I’ve been learning about Ackermann angles and freewheels and high-current PWM driver MOSFETs…