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Wooden Electric Car

897 Views 5 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  remy_martian, 
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Hello everyone! I was trying to come up with a project for the future - I wanted to make an electrified car constructed from wood. The main issue I am worried about is the heat of the motor either causing the adhesives used to melt, or worse - causing the wood to combust. I have not really been able to find much research on something like this, just that there are drivable wooden cars, not so much on this particular issue. Anyone have any thoughts on the subject?
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reiderM
Heat isn't a problem if you avoid running the motor at close to max amperages. Be lighter on the accelerator and motor heat shouldn't be an issue, certainly not to the point of a fire.

Battery heat is another concern, but same deal as with the motor: pull less amps and you'll produce less heat.
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An ICE gets much hotter than any EV. In any case, unless you're doing a Flintstones movie remake, or doing a hardcore beam and peg construction, you'll have bolts and brackets made of metal as well as having liquid cooled components as an option.

iirc, the Morgan is still made of wood
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remy_martian said:
An ICE gets much hotter than any EV. In any case, unless you're doing a Flintstones movie remake, or doing a hardcore beam and peg construction, you'll have bolts and brackets made of metal as well as having liquid cooled components as an option.

iirc, the Morgan is still made of wood
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It has an aluminum frame, wood structure, and aluminum body panels. My issue is that I wanted to make all wooden panels. That's where I was thinking I would have issues with the heat
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Yeah, one person could probably pick up all of the wood in any Morgan built in this century. It's there for corporate tradition, not because they really make cars from wood.

Wooden panels should not be a problem. If the compartment with any component is hot enough to be problem for plywood, those components are being destroyed by excessive heat anyway. The metal brackets as remy_martian mentioned are critical to success.
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...and don't forget, with a high tooth count carbide blade, your circular/tablesaw can cut aluminum (as can the bandsaw). In fact, there's a new series of Diablo blades that will cut ferrous.

The price of 2x4's these days, aluminum looks cheap.

You doing wooden tires as well in this rolling termite feast? 😂
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