Multimodal Electric Drive

About

The past shows that new concepts of existing patterns are just successful when they fulfil not only practical needs or save costs, but also are special or more fun to use. Therefore the solution shown here is not only addressed to be more efficient but also should provide joy and speak to young active people as well as other customers.   For the electric mobility in cities there are several unsolved problems: The very expensive storage of energy. The adaptation of the infrastructure for electrified vehicles. The high area needed by today's concepts of individual mobility.   The basic idea to solve these issues is to separate the expensive energy storage from the drive train of the vehicle. That way, the customer can have one battery pack for his/her specific needs and use it for several vehicles. The end product, using this principle, should aim for: Providing a possibility of individual mobility that uses extensively less energy than electric vehicles. Providing a solution that needs no or little changes in today's infrastructure. Providing a solution that reduces the amount of space needed by vehicles. Providing a concept that is as individual as possible and addresses a wide range of people Providing a solution that is not only useful but also can be fun to use.   To address these goals, and also to fulfil more general requirements (safety, ergonomics), the separation of drive train and battery can only be applied to vehicles with very low power consumption which are also supported by the muscle power of the driver. Possibilities are bicycles, scooters, Sagway-similar vehicles or skateboards. The suggested modular drive train includes an interface to control the engine-power by the user and also transfer energy from the worn battery to the motor at the vehicle. The specific form of the interphase enables these functions without additional work steps and follows intuitive movements possible on every vehicle in the using range. Furthermore, it allows the user to take the battery very simply everywhere which makes it possible to charge it with common electricity infrastructure inside an apartment.   With the suggested propulsion, the user can increase the comfort on the way to the public transport station. Since the drive train is independent of the vehicle, he/her can decide to use it with different means of small transport and battery sizes depending on his/her personal preferences.   Concepts for the ergonomics, control and user-friendliness have been done as well as CAD models and simulations for the drive-train, the battery and the user interphase. For the next step, putting the concept into reality, approaches are welcome to further developing, researching or commercialising the concept.