UrbaTrike
A Zero Emissions Electric Fun Machine

Nearly everyone will agree on the practical benefits of having a highly efficient minimal vehicle for local trips. The sticking point comes when it's time to translate that vague idea of efficient personal transportation into a real-world product. It seems that reality has a way of imbuing an otherwise great idea with a large dose of dowdiness, which takes the fun out of going places. No one wants to spend a bundle of money and not be able to enjoy the results. UrbaTrike was conceived as a way to put fun back into the prospect of saving energy and reducing emissions. It's an electric open-bodied trike with seating for two and a range of about 50 miles on its 48-volt battery pack. With UrbaTrike's minimalist approach, local transportation is almost free.
         If you never driven a trike, it's something like a cross between a motorcycle and a wind-in-the-teeth fold-down-windshield sports car. And with UrbaTrike, performance can be tailored to fit your excitement threshold. The prototype shown here is equipped with a modest 48-volt battery pack comprised of eight 6-volt golf car batteries. With this setup, UrbaTrike accelerates from 0 to 35 mph in 9.5 seconds and has a maximum speed of 55 mph - not really wind-in-the-teeth sports car performance. But a 72-volt battery pack (four more batteries) will push top speed to 65 - 70 mph and roughly double the acceleration rate. It's also possible to keep the battery count at six and switch to 12-volt batteries for increased performance. However, you can also expect at least a 50 percent reduction in range with this alternative.
         The live rear axle can come from just about any car, but ours was from an older Toyota. The fork is from a Honda 750, but a fork from any large motorcycle will work. The frame is made of welded steel tubing and the body is made of FRP/foam composite. The frame can be built in a couple of weekends. Figure about 150 hours to build the fiberglass body. Click on the bottom image in the left margin to retrieve an exploded view rendering of how UrbaTrike is built.