Pity that Holden , Ford , Toyota and other that I don't know car manufacturers are closing shop in Australia.
I just have brilliant idea for the concept car they could manufacture cheaply and be the most wanted here and abroad.

Lets build light electric car like that:
1.-first flat chasis - containing battery and 4 electric motors in hub wheels. Complete power drive system , flat and low - as level of your existing car floor.
2.-on top we could now in one smooth , easy way install one of canopies of your choice:
a) sedan
b) van
c) ute
d) cabriolet ...

we could do even more then 4 if needed

How it works?
Now you could purchase a car , say at $15,000 complete power train and one of the cabin on top.
If one day you decide that you need to carry something you simply un-clip cabin, remotely drive bottom off and attach another top cabin - ute or van for example. Clip on, done.

I imagine that you don't need even to buy this extra cabins - could be rented for a day from local service station.
Same with electric battery that standard range is 100 km, but could be easy in a minute swapped at the station.

Since that purpose is mostly localized people and goods mover, not high end top speed vehicle, cost is reasonable - $15,000 but complete safety assured. Max speed 110 km/h , range 100 km. to start with. Later could be improved with progress in technology .

Since power train is reasonable simple, I could imagine also that could be easily build to extend , in length or even width if needed.
This way you could have one car as compact as possible to carry you to work place but extend later , attach full size ute cabin and do some serious material moving.
Even all 4 wheels could be also not only powered easy due to internal in wheel electric motors, but also steerable!
Both front and rear wheels could turn, depending on the speed in the same or opposite direction. This give you extra stability at the speed or allow to turn on the dime almost ( this concept is not new and was even employed already on the Moon rover)

Should we ask Holden to rethink their decisions ? Stay and save 50,000 or more jobs ?
Then as with ute original Aussie concept could lead the world in new motor car thinking ?

Brilliant idea? I guess if you ignore most of the safety aspects and reality, then sure, its a brilliant idea.

Macro has conveniently ignored the safety standards that cars are built to. Max speed 110km/h. Have you seen a head on crash at these speeds and the damage it can do? With a 'clip-on' cabin?

Macro, I think once again you have gone off on an idea without doing research. Everyone has these "great ideas", but to make it reality you need to understand how things are already done and in this case why cars are built the way they are.

Dezman said..

Brilliant idea and with people willing to pay top dollar now for hybrid cars that are really the oxymorons of the road having both electric and fuel motors!
I always thought instead of giving handouts to business how about a big order, I call it thinking ahead.
But as usual most company's are run by smooth talking, suit wearing idiots that have no ideas of their own, then the guy who has brains but not the social tack is laughed at and pushed aside because he does not know what a brown nosing means.

That is good idea. Instead of just handling over 200 million dollars to car manufacturers , why not just place the order for

200,000,000 / $15.,000 = 13,000 thousand vehicles, that could be immediately - resold, exported, send to city councils as main vehicle, equip the army etc.

Do this american way - government will propose challenge among our manufacturers, Ford Holden ,Toyota, .... to provide the best concept and chooses best project to be implemented.

Here you go guys, your wish has been answered;

www.syfy.com/

www.osvehicle.com/contribute/

from the site

Step 2 ? Design

Create your personal design, anything from a city car to an off-road vehicle

Macroscien said..

The best selling electric car in Europe is now Renault Twizzy and cost just Eur 6,990

You are right, can not be imported to Australia yet due to luck of electronic stability control. But we could fix for with $10 electronic chipset controlling electric wheels propulsion.

Re Safety. In reality this car concept could be much safer. Traditional car has huge engine that is not really compressible in the event of crash.
This electric car has motor in wheels, battery in the floor and huge bag of jelly beans in front of you if you if you wish, because all space reserved for motor is now empty.
Next - lower center of gravity improve stability further.

You are going to clip a shell onto a car that can provide the same level of protection that a normal car can? Your example of the Renault is obviously not the same crazy idea as yours and thus not a realistic comparison.

As for engines. I believe that designers try and make it so that the engine actually gets pushed down so that it doesn't intrude on the passenger compartment.

Which do you want? Crazy idea, economic, safe, or a good selling car?

Tell, me, what is involved in electronic stability control? From what you said, it sounds like you think its just $10 worth of parts controlling the wheels. If you could get anything done for $10 I would be amazed, let alone a system that is integrated to the cars electronics, 100% reliable, and 100% failsafe.

I don't know how safe a clip on car is going to be in a decent accident. Interesting idea, but I think will be a little boring.

Dezman said..

Brilliant idea and with people willing to pay top dollar now for hybrid cars that are really the oxymorons of the road having both electric and fuel motors!

How is a hybrid car an oxymoron? They are hybrids, combining an electric and petrol motor.
Hybrids are probably going to get more and more popular, especially because they are making some exciting ones now.

Dawn Patrol said..

I don't know how safe a clip on car is going to be in a decent accident. Interesting idea, but I think will be a little boring.

Dezman said..

Brilliant idea and with people willing to pay top dollar now for hybrid cars that are really the oxymorons of the road having both electric and fuel motors!

How is a hybrid car an oxymoron? They are hybrids, combining an electric and petrol motor.
Hybrids are probably going to get more and more popular, especially because they are making some exciting ones now.

I drive an 'environmentally friendly petrol/electric car' !!!
I now have been using a electric dinghy for 6 months now powered only by a solar panel ....if I was recharging the battery with my petrol generator and told you that my dingy was environmentally friendly you would think I was an idiot!!!

'Interesting boring idea' hey? Well most back seats are clip down for example and I bet there are plenty more examples if we look.
clips are as strong as bolts I think.

Dezman said..

I drive an 'environmentally friendly petrol/electric car' !!!

Imagine that you purchased our new 4in1 EV with Van cabin.
You have big surface at sides and roof.
Say
2meter wide x 5m long for the roof = 10 m2

plus similar for sides.

Stick new flexible thin, extra light solar panel and you should have 2kw free electricity to recharge.

At $250 per 100W there are cheap this days.

Leave your car on the sun and 12 kWh energy refill your battery. That is more then enough to drive you to the work and back for free at the rest of your life in most cases.

Macroscien said..


If we build our cars from composite carbon and Kevlar plus fiberglass we could not only export more cars but also iron saved on production lines.
Then the more plastic in front to crumble the better - to lower main killer - deceleration. But Styrofoam is cheap, light.

Some guys have guts to go at 100 km/h on 4 kg speed board so 400 kg plastic around you , that could crumble on impact should make you feel safer.

If only we had a material that was strong, able to deform to absorb impacts, was cheap, recyclable, that we could dig up from the ground.

Instead, you want a material that is expensive, brittle, and not recyclable.

Do you realise that car manufacturers have access to CF and fibreglass right now? They always want to reduce weight, yet they stick with steel, and sometimes specific mixes of steel, when they could easily use CF.

So why don't they use lots of CF? Sometimes its not the best material for the job. I really don't know exactly how it behaves in a crash, but I expect it shatters. Steel bends and absorbs some of that impact.


Well, that's enough crazy talk. I'm off to my teleporter right now to go to the Bahamas. It doesn't work quite yet, but I am sure its only an engineering problem, and will no doubt be solved this week.

FormulaNova said..

Macroscien said..


If we build our cars from composite carbon and Kevlar plus fiberglass we could not only export more cars but also iron saved on production lines.
Then the more plastic in front to crumble the better - to lower main killer - deceleration. But Styrofoam is cheap, light.

Some guys have guts to go at 100 km/h on 4 kg speed board so 400 kg plastic around you , that could crumble on impact should make you feel safer.

If only we had a material that was strong, able to deform to absorb impacts, was cheap, recyclable, that we could dig up from the ground.

Instead, you want a material that is expensive, brittle, and not recyclable.

Do you realise that car manufacturers have access to CF and fibreglass right now? They always want to reduce weight, yet they stick with steel, and sometimes specific mixes of steel, when they could easily use CF.

So why don't they use lots of CF? Sometimes its not the best material for the job. I really don't know exactly how it behaves in a crash, but I expect it shatters. Steel bends and absorbs some of that impact.


Well, that's enough crazy talk. I'm off to my teleporter right now to go to the Bahamas. It doesn't work quite yet, but I am sure its only an engineering problem, and will no doubt be solved this week.

Hey you gotta love the Jellybean idea though?

Macroscien said..

FormulaNova said..

I think a true innovator is someone that can see the limitations, understand the constraints, and still come up with something good. Someone that comes up with pie-in-the-sky ideas are a-dime-a-dozen.

Right, your deserve then the medal for best innovator .... in the field of problems , hassles, limitations,constrains and unworkable s ...etc

This is a concept for whole large team to develop. The first come up with solution wins.

Otherwise we are going to import similar from Tesla Motors or Tata Motors soon.
Or we can have our own.

The point is we must be innovative, competitive, constructive in resolving problems.
I am sure we as a nation have potential to compete on this field.
On cheap labor and mass production we don't stand the chance.

That is way our car comes with new, not yet implemented concepts.

Sometimes the best ideas just comes from our needs.
I personally need to move myself around cheaply - but sometimes I want to move all my gear with me.
You may wish to have city car for one purpose then van or ute - but most basic component and expensive is the same.
Power train. So I could buy $3000 van cabin and have now two cars at the cost of one , one registration and insurance fee, saved parking space etc.

Were you also one of the people that were criticising Holden for producing a V8 or 6 cylinder car that 'no one wanted'?

Now you are suggesting a crackpot idea on unstable engineering dreams. Wow, maybe Holden should employ someone like you and they would have the market cornered for this type of car.

Where are you going to store your spare cabins for your MacroCar? Well, probably in the same space that you could store a trailer. You know the type that you can attach to your car and use for transporting heavy or bulky stuff? The type that cost $60 a year to register.

Where are you going to attach the cabin to the car? Where is that space coming from? Is it a one-person operation or do you need a crew?

If you haven't noticed, even children draw pictures of crazy gadgets that would be fantastic, if only for the fact that they don't work. Anyone can dream up requirements, but it takes someone clever to actually deliver a product.

Macroscien said..

Dezman said..

But never think of breaking the second law of thermo dynamics!

You are right.
Whatever car you will build the destructive kinetic energy is proportional to the car weight.
E=mv2 /2

If we build our cars from composite carbon and Kevlar plus fiberglass we could not only export more cars but also iron saved on production lines.
Then the more plastic in front to crumble the better - to lower main killer - deceleration. But Styrofoam is cheap, light.

Some guys have guts to go at 100 km/h on 4 kg speed board so 400 kg plastic around you , that could crumble on impact should make you feel safer.

Composite manufacturing has a main factor from the price of oil. As the oil barrel price raises so does composite.

southace said..

Composite manufacturing has a main factor from the price of oil. As the oil barrel price raises so does composite.

Once electric cars take over there is no more use for oil anymore.

Sustaining demand for oil will be our next contribution to peace and prosperity in Arab world.

We don't want them to die of hunger next day, unless we just want that and switch to coconut husky fiber.
But in fact we have more carbon ( coal) that any other state in world so why not to do cars from our coal instead of sending it to China to be burned and come back as a smog and hitting us with global warming.

Our 4in1 car just address more and more issues that previously intended .

FormulaNova said..

"The price premium on the Volt just doesn't make economic sense for the average consumer

Absolutely right. Paying $50k for the cheapest EV ( NIssan Leaf) doesn't make any sense even if electricity is free ( but is not free ).

Renault is on right track with EV below $10,000 drive away and there is success story in Europe.
We are not talking about poor Africa or crowded India/Asia that propel demand for small cheap cars.

European market is possibly the most competitive and refined market.

They just prove again that innovation is the key.

The old PC - personal computer that cost $5.000 with 286 processor is less capable then two dollars disposable electronic gadget this days.
Your single mobile phone could run whole Apollo Moon mission, just need 1000 more keyboards and could power whole Kennedy Flight Center those days.

Macroscien said..

Absolutely right. Paying $50k for the cheapest EV ( NIssan Leaf) doesn't make any sense even if electricity is free ( but is not free ).

Renault is on right track with EV below $10,000 drive away and there is success story in Europe.
We are not talking about poor Africa or crowded India/Asia that propel demand for small cheap cars.

European market is possibly the most competitive and refined market.

They just prove again that innovation is the key.

The old PC - personal computer that cost $5.000 with 286 processor is less capable then two dollars disposable electronic gadget this days.
Your single mobile phone could run whole Apollo Moon mission, just need 1000 more keyboards and could power whole Kennedy Flight Center those days.

I think your idea of innovation is to come up with some idea that you think is brilliant. There must be millions of people in history that had notions of time machines and cars powered by water.

My idea of innovation is to work with reality and materials available today and make something special.

The idea of an EV for less than $10K is a great idea. Confusing it by adding a separate cabin and power platform is ignorant of what is possible today, even if you had the most brilliant engineers available.

FormulaNova said..

1. Why not just have a removable battery pack?

2. They have significantly different widths and lengths.

1. When your EV has limited range of 100 km and suddenly you decided to travel 200- 300 km we have following easy options:
a) Have a net of service station to swap batteries in a minute
b) Have a portable petrol generator that is inserted into the boot of that car for the trip . Car is designed to accommodate such generator. Or on the roof rack or below the floor.
c) Future EV version could have also space in the floor allowing to swap battery pack for flat design petrol motor just for the trip.
d) Attach to tow bar a trailer with petrol generator and link back with cable to recharge car on the go. You don't need to own one. For a one trip is better to rent it from service station.

Now range or our EV is unlimited.

2. This is why structure of the drive train chassis could be build in such way that could easily slide to extend in length or widths. Just few structural elements - beams could expend or slide in like a ram to allow distance between wheels :
-increase for better stability for large cabin
-decrease for small city commuting , in space saver cabin

We never are going to replace 10 tone truck or bus but if think far ahead we could use bottom modules to clip into one centrally operated vehicle.
So for example we could connect 2 drive trains to build one longer limousine or van .

Since average family has now 4 cars (two for parents and two for kids) that we don't have to look far if need extra power drive train.
Join even 4 to create extra wide and long, as long as you have roads wide enough to support it. One cabin sitting on all 4 power drive base unit.
16 wheels in total. Crazy ? maybe today yes but again at no cost at all you could now transport a serious bulky stuff.

Because our car have motor in the wheels we could also easy lift whole floor platform above the ground - high clearance or lower it. By pneumatic or mechanical rams whole suspension could go up or down.