[otherparticipant]

I have a 1984 Honda Civic Wagovan that more or less runs and am wanting to convert it to hybrid pedal/electric power. I am basing the possibility of pedal power on Michel de Broin's Shared Propulsion Car in which he has four pedal sets on an 86 Buick Regal. I figure if he can get four people to make that car go maybe I can do the same with the Honda or even get away with less than four pedal sets.

http://www.micheldebroin.org/projects/spc/index.html

The electric would be for when I don't feel like pedaling or need the power such as on hills.

I have two welders but no experience with them. I have many spare bikes and several local resources for learning how to fabricate things, figuring out bike mechanics, etc...

Thanks for any input you have,
Craig in Kansas

[Yabert]

Originally Posted by otherparticipant

I am basing the possibility of pedal power on Michel de Broin's Shared Propulsion Car in which he has four pedal sets on an 86 Buick Regal. I figure if he can get four people to make that car go maybe I can do the same with the Honda or even get away with less than four pedal sets.

http://www.micheldebroin.org/projects/spc/index.html

Hahahaha! A dangerosity on four wheel!..

A 12v system can be more powerful than 4 humans pedaling... because each human can barely produce 200w of power and a compact car need 5000w to 10000w to maintain 35 mph.

[Jesse67]

I think you would classify that as more of a moving art exhibit or protest against car culture than a viable mode of transport. I like the quote from the site,
"With a top speed of around 15 km/h, the vehicle’s resistance to the culture of performance is raised to an unprecedented level." !!!

You're much better off with just a bike, I can hit 40km/h on mine. Converting your civic to electric drive is something people here can help you with though, what are your range and speed expectations?

[otherparticipant]

Ah cool guys, thanks. Yes... I understand that my idea of making this "hybrid" is more fun than practical. My needs for the electric part of things is 35-45mph and maybe 20-30 miles/charge.

Right 40km/h on a bike is pretty do-able. In that regard I think designing a lightweight but strong bike that goes 40mph might be another option for me. The idea of going much over 40kmh/25mph on a bike doesn't feel safe.

[Jesse67]

I would go for an electric motorcycle in your case, easy to add pedals to that and you could probably actually pedal it for a little while, and 40mph would be easy.

An electric conversion on a car will take a lot of effort and quite a bit of money but its usually about the same if you pick a really nice car or a really terrible car for your conversion. Perhaps your 84 civic wagon holds some particular sentimental value for you or perhaps its imaculatly restored but I suggest you pick a car that you will actually want to drive once its converted. I just don't want to see people put all that effort and time into something that never gets used! Maybe your 84 civic wagovan is that car but remember it will still be an 84 civic wagovan when you're done, just slower.... and electric powered!

I picked the mini truck because its quite uesful as a small 4x4 truck for you know, truck stuff! And it makes a bit of a statement here in Edmonton Alberta where every other vehicle is a Ford F250 quad cab 4x4 diesel.....I'm not exagerating. That said its still a 20 year old mini truck, it makes my 2004 matrix feel positivly luxurious, which is why my next conversion will probably be that car.

[otherparticipant]

That's a good point. The 84 Honda Civic actually IS the car I want more or less. Always thought they were awesome/cool looking cars similar to the Volvo station wagons and what-not. Right... the other part of the equation is that I need to cart around 2-4 other people of various ages and do it safely thus the idea of using an existing car that has the right kind of shell.

I was sort of thinking about this car: http://www.wikispeed.com/ maybe take some lessons from that and build a new frame that is lightweight but strong. Don't know... just randomly gathering info right now.

Thanks again so much for the feedback.

Craig

[otherparticipant]

By the way Jesse, I love your mini truck. I definitely was looking at some similar things called a Zap a while ago. I like the kind of mini-style.

[Jesse67]

Thanks! I'm having a blast driving it right now, light weight vehicles are a lot of fun and are easy to convert.

Check it out - http://green.autoblog.com/2009/02/06...a-civic-wagon/

Looks like a very clean lead acid conversion, I was thinking of the slightly newer 4wd civic wagons when you said civic wagon, which look a bit odd in my opinion, this one looks a bit more classic and I don't mind the looks of it at all! Is that the body style you've got?

[otherparticipant]

Actually... my Honda is different and I think much cooler... like this:



Plus... the backside of it is covered in local indie music-related stickers from the past couple of decades and it has an add-on moon roof to boot. Though I do need some truck-like storage for picking up kitchen scraps from the local coop for my compost.

I'm trying to learn a bit of physics. I think that if I have this right if I can make 200 watts of power make my 200lbs (me+normal bike) go 15 mph then if I use that same 200 watts of power to try and move 2000lbs (pedal car + passengers) go... (if it was a spherical horse in a vacuum) 1.5 miles per hour. My daily commute would be 5 hours. Ouch!

[Yabert]

If your miles commute is only 7.5 miles and if you don't need speed higher than 35-40 mph you can probably do a cheap 72v conversion for a reasonable price.

Forget about the 2-3% of help in power provide by pedaling and focus on remove weight from your car (so, forget about lead battery).
Some sub 100 lbs battery pack can acheive your goal.
A good exemple here: http://www.evalbum.com/3550