Open Source Eco Car

There should be more threads dedicated to how we're going to be able to transport ourselves in the near future. Let's use this thread to discuss ways of converting old (non-computer ridden) cars into hybrids that can take multiple fuel sources without self-driving/connective abilities

samefagging: I would suppose combining n-anes + solar would be optimal for having reliable power source and an available power source, but the car would need to still be battery powered

I think you would have far more problems with making the thing legal to drive on a road than actually building it. I can't imagine the government greenlighting (har har) anything being driven on their roads if they can't stick their noses into it somehow.

>>45088 would it be illegal to just mod the car? it should meet safety stnadards (the ones I'm coming up with, anyways) if I do an engine and battery swap

For some form of solar powered vehicle with a 20 horsepower motor, you would need around 4 Killowatts of solar power (200 watts per horsepower rounded up), generally speaking you can get around 100 watts per square meter per quare meter with a solar panel meaning you need 40 square meters for the car, if you somehow got some god tier panels to put out 1 KW per square meter, you could get it down to 4 Square meters, a car 1.5 meters wide and 3 meters long might have enough roofspace, however it would be a barely drivable low speed soykafbox, i would gear it for very high torque to have a chance of getting any payload up a hill, speed will never be a concern with this thing as it would never have any. It would only be drivable during the day with fair weather and it would be better to just battery power it, not a viable power source, just wanted to get this one out of the way

>>45089 Assuming cars will continue to become more and more reliant on computers there may be some legislation mandating computerized safety features (not open source, unfortunately). This is all in the future mind you so if you want to go out and do it then there's probably no better time than the present.

>>45091 keeping in mind that this is an american government, they'll have to maintain some farcical level of freedom by applying this to car manufacturers instead of people that go out and make their own cars, so that might work for the few who care

>>45090 having solar power the battery in conjunction with other fuels is a given, but what can we combine (propane, gas, CNG, hydrogen) without esplodin the car?

>>45092 Fair point. I guess if you can get the know-how and the resources the only thing that's stopping you is the possibility of you fuarrrking it up and the thing exploding while on the freeway. Best of luck to you though, as memey as this seems this type of thing could very well be necessary depending on how dystopic things look in another 20 or so years.

>>45094 that's one of my main goncerns how not aplode?

I would love to see hydrogen cars in the future, the main issue with it is storage, It could be kept in a dewer tank however it would slowly leak fuel into the surrounding air because those thanks work by slowly boiling off the contents to refrigerate itself, if the boiled off hydrogen were fed into some form of chemical burner to react it with oxygen it wouldn't have this issue, however it would still lose fuel over time. Fuel cells are far more efficient than internal combustion engines, however they could still use IC engines to benefit from the century of expertise surround them. Hydrogen in general is an extremely attractive fuel source, however it requires a huge amount of energy to produce so it is an energy carrier, not a producer in the grand scheme of things. To gain environmental benefits the hydrogen production facility would need to get its power from a grid running renewable energy (like thats viable) or nuclear power

>>45096 *the dewer tank is meant to keep the hydrogen in liquid form and leaking fuel into the surrounding air can cause explosion if parked indoors

Bikes are the truly free choice, enjoy getting c*cked by big oil , safety restrictions, expensive patented parts, police controls, license plates and all the other things that make cars so cringe. Cagers are rhe most stupid people ever, you can go about 100-130km without oo much of a struggle if you're not fat, and a lot more if you go cycling every day. Why would anyone use a car if you can do everything a car does with something that costs only a small fraction and even less in maintenance?

>>45098 greater payload, far faster, need to transport multiple people, long commute every day cars are great, they cater to needs many people have that bikes do cater to. Sure, most people COULD live with only a bike, but hyper minimalism like that defeats the point of technological progress

>>45099 as for safety restrictions and license plates, i do not support license plates, however safety restrictions are nice so i don't end up smashing through somebody living room because the brakes failed, or getting T-boned by an idiot doing 120 MPH. as for big oil, grow up energy and manufacturing are 2 things that will forever be centralized because of the extreme benefits centralization gives them, and that will never change

>>45088 >>45089 As long as it uses an already approved chassis it passes the hardest legal obstacles. If there's enough of a community around it it shouldn't be that hard to create and manufacture an open source car and go through the regulatory hurdles to approve a FOS car. >>45091 This is up to us to manage. Like you said it's future stuff, we can advocate to make sure that they don't make those changes.

>>45098 Bikes really are perfect, unless you need to haul soykaf or go very far (>160 kilometres), or get there fast. You don't even need to spend much to get a bike that can go almost anywhere People really use cars to go 10 miles lmao.

>>45101 getting a chassis from a manufacturer (read: craigslist) and hacking your own engine, battery, and other schtuff into it is part of the process. So a combination of legal stuff should work

>>45098 >>45102 Yeah, ok, this is cool and all but what if you sprain your ankle or something? Would you have to call someone to drive you around like you are their grandma?

>>45104 >sprains one ankle nothing personell kid

>>45098 >>45102 >>45104 >>45105 Hey let's keep this focused on cars. We know bikes are good

>>45104 then use your car to push the pedal *ouch* or public transport

https://plugincarworld.com/can-i-convert-my-car-to-hybrid/ This seems like a useful first step

Use wound up elastic bands for propulsion. I tested several scale models of this type of car years ago in my youth. The concept works well. I imagine a full scale model could drive for many miles before needing to be recharged. The only problem I had was controlling the speed, however in a full scale version I imagine some kind of gearbox could be used.

>>45098 >>45102 I'm with the biker-gang (maybe cross-country skiing in the winter). Cars are expensive, require fuel, require insurance, and don't get you that far anyway. Really they only seem to have the advantage of transporting cargo the last few miles from the train-station (a city could even have rented tramcars for those last few miles), or if you live in the middle of nowhere (my current situation). I used to bike six miles to school, and then back again, it only took like thirty minutes or less and I didn't need to do cardio during that time. Perhaps more related to the spirit of this discussion there are lots of interesting kits to add electric assist to bicycles, cargo bicycles, and human powered multiple wheel vehicles. If you live in an urban or suburban (like I used to) area you can meet a considerable percentage if not all of your needs with little investment. It is in all likelihood the easiest, and cheapest way to obtain an electric vehicle capable of meeting daily transportation needs.

>>45116 What are you going to do when you have to leave your city because of a hurricane or other natural disaster? Guess you're going to try to squeeze on a bus with the dregs of society and probably get shanked or robbed in the process.

>>45118 >Guess you're going to try to squeeze on a bus with the dregs of society and probably get shanked or robbed in the process. I'm generally not a fearful person, when I lived in the city I frequented my local bus system. Worst thing I can recall is some guy really wanting to talk to me about aliens, and another guy asking me for bus fare in a local, but really thick accent which I could not understand. Also were this not the case the only natural disasters in my area are tornadoes, and generally you just stay put for those. I don't really know much about hurricanes and how much time you have or how much rail, airlines, buses, etc. close down in advance. If you know someone with an extra seat in their car, or have ridesharing services you could probably just do that too.