Experiments in personal electric transportation

This three wheeled skateboard built at Oberlin came to be known as the Electroped and was constructed using the propulsion system from a broken electric scooter I found and spare parts from other projects.  Acceleration and breaking are accomplished through the levers mounted on the control cable, and steering, as in a normal skateboard, is controlled by leaning. While the vehicles rate of acceleration is lack luster due to its low wattage motor, it can never the less reach a respectable top speed of 14mph.   

Steering was originally a problem with this vehicle. I attempted to use a large skate board truck to allow the front wheels to turn around the center of the axle, as a result a 90 degree turn could only be accomplished over about a half block.  In an effort to improve this uselessly large turning radius I built another truck which functioned much more like a car's: tie rods attached to a plate plate below the board move the wheels in parallel allowing for a much tighter turning radius.      

Drive train and battery detail