Plug-In Diesel/Electric Hybrid Cycle project

[Ben Nelson]

Dear Friends,

I was recently contacted by a clean transportation associate, Pat Keller. Pat is a former Harley employee who has been working on an X-Prize style plug-in hybrid diesel/electric cycle for the past several years.

Unfortunately, he was recently diagnosed with a severe illness and is trying to make arrangements for a group to continue his work on the project. He wishes to dontate the project "whole cloth" to a Hackerspace, University, or other organization that can continue improving the project. The donation would include the vehicle itself, additional materials used on it, and complete documentation of the project. (I already have over 2.3GB of photos, records, reciepts, documents, plans, and presentations of the project.)

The vehicle itself is an enclosed recumbent trike, driven by twin hub motors in the rear, powered by a .9L Kubota diesel running four 24V alternators and a 96V battery pack with twin brushless motor controllers. The vehicle is already properly titled, registered, and insured.

It seems to me that the Mlwaukee Electric Car Club would be very interested in this project. The Milwaukee Makerspace would make an ideal location for collaborative work on the project, although we may be restricted due to storage space. Engineering students from Marquette, MATC, or MSOE might also make excellent collaborators on this project.

This project would be excellent for competition in fuel economy contests, showing off at events like the Midwest Renewable Energy Association, Maker Faire, the Sustainability Summit, etc.

Below are links to some images of the project I have hosted on my web page.



If you have any ideas or suggestions on a location to house the project or other people that should be involved, please let me know.

Thanks,

-Ben Nelson
b...@hdvideoguy.com
414-403-0021