Marshall Brain's Blog

I've often wondered how these engine-wheels fare after going over pothole after pothole. How expensive are they to replace? Can they be fixed? I love the style and mileage, but it doesn't do me any good if the maintenance costs are through the roof.
 

I remember seeing the 'motor in the wheel hub' at least a couple years ago being used on a prototype bus. It's a good idea.

Assuming the axle is strong enough to handle the shocks of driving, the whole assembly should last a long time.
 

This car will vanish into a vault somewhere never to be seen again, just like all the other cool, ultra efficient cars that have come before it.
 

Nice idea. The only problem I see is the choice of batteries. Lithium Polymer batteries are just too dangerous. These batteries might work though..

http://www.a123systems.com/html/home.html
 

The car manufacturers will start developing things like this only when they have to. Right now, they still make money doing business as is. Hopefully, as the American manufactureres continue to lose ground they'll rethink their strategies and start doing things like this.
 

I'm a long time reader of your work, (Being the grandson of a Protestant Minister who was Kierkegaard's official German translator I'm especially enamored of the material you present in 'Why Doesn't God Heal Amputees?' It's too bad he's not around to read it), and ever since I read you piece on the electric moped your friend bought from Pep Boys, http://marshallbrain.blogspot.com/2005/09/buying-electric-scooter.html
I've wanted to set up a business selling them.

I live in New York City and i don't have a doubt in my mind that this item would do incredibly well here, being that the cost of riding the bus or subway is $2 to start vs. the $.02 cents an average ride in Manhattan would cost on a scooter.

Right now there are a few limiting factors such as cost and range, meaning that right now the scooters I'm looking at are priced at about twice what a working stiff New Yorker can afford, (also see: prices/Segway), and the batteries are at about half the charging capacity that I'm comfy with.

I do happen to like the smaller wheeled, low to ground, electric scooters more than the moped models because they have a much smaller profile which means that they fit in office elevators much easier than say a conventional sized bicycle and can readily be inobtrusively tucked in a cubicle for recharging.

If you have any suggestions for me on how to go about this I'd love to hear them.

I set up this website http://digitalcomponents.blogspot.com/ this summer as a clearinghouse for information on electric vehicles, (if you go there you can see that it's in the nascent stage), and you can contact me there through the comments fields.

Thanks for your time.

nwa