Skip to main content

G-Car Desirable Features

Goods and Passengers

G-Car should be able to carry both goods and passengers or both. In order to accomplish this feat, car can be layers with:
  1. A chassis that holds the suspension elements
    • Prime mover and drive shafts
    • Braking system
    • Steering system
    • Battery and controllers/chargers
  2.  A seat mounting frame that can be configured with two three-seater units or with one seat and a luggage unit or no seats and two luggage units.
  3. A "skin" shell that covers the passengers, driver and luggage. This shell can be made in sections so that a portion of it can be removed or replaced to create a delivery van version of the G-Car which has no passenger seats. This shell can be made of fibre glass with steel or aluminum frame for strength.

 Instrumentation

It is desired that the instrumentation and dashboard be integrated into an embedded OS such as Android or Linux. 
A typical control system would like the following:


G-Car is intended to use a G-Car Management System (GMS) consisting of a series of sensors that serve as inputs into a G-Car computer that then provides output either to control the vehicle through actuators or display the status of key G-Car sub-systems through an LCD panel.

Passenger Comfort and Convenience

The design of the chassis and the type and positioning of seats and suspension system are expected to be key to passenger comfort. But, additionally, noise control, control of air movement, insulation from street fumes and from rain are key elements of the G-Car experience. It is intended to have a pleasant bright ambience with phone chargers, entertainment system and WiFi.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

G-Car Further Thoughts

Energy Supply Issues A lot of new transport technology is set to be tested in the next few years - mass produced electric cars, pods, hyperloop. The G-Car is not revolutionary or even disruptive. It's designed as a lightweight electric taxi optimised for small urban areas or neighborhoods. No doubt energy storage technology will one day improve enough to extend the range of electric vehicles but right now the cards are still stacked against a long range electric vehicle especially with the fixed battery design adopted by leading car manufacturers. Some like Tesla seem to integrate the battery into the car chasis.  An alternative approach that the G-Car will seek to refine is an easily replaceable battery preferably using a robotic arm to replace the battery at "Electric Refueling Stations" [ERS] that run on solar power to charge batteries ready for customers to come and replace. Ideally, the ERS would not need to buy a large number of batteries as long as charging ti...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rear Suspension Ideas

These are ideas for the rear suspension. One of the G-Car's key requirements is comfort. This includes smoothness of the ride, low noise, attractive ambience. A smooth ride will require a suspension system that allows a smooth ride over rough terrain. At tall order but (i) absorb small vertical movements of the wheel, (ii) smoothen larger movements by slowing the rise and fall as GC drives over, say, a speed bump or porthole.
Post a Comment
Read more

Welcome to G-Car

 Welcome to G-Car I need to build a car from scratch. It needs to carry at least 6 passengers, be based on solar power and should not pollute the air nor contribute to noise pollution. You guessed it: It's gotta be electric. But... electric has so many troubles - range, power, cost? Well, that's what engineers are for; to reduce cost, increase range and power. But why? Easy: Tuktuk. Noisy, rough, ugly, dangerous, highly polluting. They should have been banned years ago except their  home country is too democratic - the citizens would riot. The Engineering The engineering process is well established:     Establish the sort of vehicle needed by the tuktuk sector - typically short urban rides     Determine the technical requirements of such a vehicle     Consider the technological options and the feasibility of producing a vehicle at the desired price point of about KES200,000 - 300,000.     Establish our engi...
Post a Comment
Read more