Ultralight hybrid vehicle (human/electric powered)

Ultralight hybrid vehicle (human/electric powered)

Years ago, someone told us that they had bought a superlight and hybrid vehicle, we could have thought wow! Sounds good! Inevitably then many more questions would appear such as: what propulsion systems do you use? How much? How does it look like? And I will try to answer all these questions and others more than people usually ask me when they meet BEGORETT.

The origin

It all started one day I was driving through a mountain pass, I found myself in the middle of a very closed curve and of low visibility to a cyclist climbing the port. When I found this situation together with a few weeks before a van had run over a squad of cyclists with the result of 8 dead, the first thing I thought was: A cyclist leaves home to play sports, to do health, to improve their quality of life and in many cases what happens is that he loses his life. That contradicts, right? And I asked myself is it possible to go cycling safely? Why do cyclists put their lives at risk on general roads where they are at a clear disadvantage? I really do not have an answer to these questions. Could we change the bicycle paradigm? Could some of these cyclists have their bicycle for one that is safer but totally different?

The creativity was launched and imagined a cyclist pedalling in a reclined position, protected by an enveloping tubular chassis formed by aerospace-grade aluminium. The bicycle had independent suspension to the four wheels to have very good dynamic stability in the descent of the mountain pass and an aerodynamic body to facilitate reaching and maintaining a cruising speed.

The evolution of the original idea

I spent 5 years working in Barcelona and suffering the daily traffic jams in the entrances and exits of the city. It made a journey of 75 minutes of which between 20 and 30 minutes were traffic in traffic jam. In several professional trips around Europe (Holland, Germany) I realized that they also had problems with traffic jams in the entrances and exits of the cities, but they had a very extensive bike lane system in the city and there was a system of asphalted roads that linked the towns adjacent to the cities. I watched with envy happy cyclists pedalling along these roads while I was in the middle of a jam with nerves on the surface. At that time, I decided to create my own vehicle.

A new lifestyle

I love the idea of ​​moving daily in an ecological vehicle that allows me to stay in shape while I move with total comfort. Change of investment fund gives me greater profitability and I explain: we are currently investing in the automotive sector that gives us as a dividend a sedentary life, pollution, poor air quality in cities, traffic congestion, great occupation of public roads, etc. When investing in BEGORETT we obtain another type of profitability: active and healthy life, consumer vehicle close to zero (energy equivalent to 0.1 liters of fuel at 100 km), improves air quality in cities where cars change of electric combustion by BEGORETT’s and bicycles, decrease of the occupation of the public road and consequently decrease of traffic jams. It is important that cities develop bicycle lane infrastructures that facilitate access to cities and mobility for those who travel on bicycles or cycles of three or four wheels. By taking advantage of and performing physical exercise during daily journeys, it allows us to have between 60 and 90 minutes more free time per day. What would you do if you had 60 to 90 minutes of free time for yourself?

The chassis

In its development we seek the optimization of the weight / tensile strength ratio. A heavy chassis would require a lot of effort to accelerate it and to slow it down. As a result we obtain a chassis formed by aerospace aluminium tubes cut in laser machines and curved tubes in automatic bending machines. The set reaches a resistance that would withstand an impact of 5 tons in any part of the chassis (front, side, rear or roll bar).

Energy system

By creating a safety cell around the cyclist implies a greater weight of the Bicycle in front of a normal bicycle and a level of security closer to that of a car. The traction system is hybrid, using the cyclist’s energy (human energy) and the assistance of an electric motor (electric power) that helps accelerate the vehicle between 0 km / h and 25 km / h. This help means that overcoming a hill or slope does not require great effort.

The body

The body of the vehicle is designed to be attractive to the eye, to be aerodynamic, to protect the cyclist from inclement weather and to generate a zone of absorption of energy in case of impact. The bodywork is mainly made of carbon fiber / epoxy that gives it great lightness and mechanical resistance. Some areas of the body must use fiberglass instead of carbon fiber to allow the passage of electromagnetic waves from the navigation system.

Mechanics

From a technical point of view, the bicycle is conceived as a mini racing car. It has a tubular chassis that gives rigidity to the whole vehicle and the suspension scheme. The independent four-wheel suspension gives it an enviable stability and allows a fast turnaround. It has 4 brake discs that are activated by two brake levers: One to brake the front wheels and the other to brake the rear wheels. The traction system is formed by a bottom bracket with an electric assistance motor, together with an automatic gear change of continuous speed variation, together with a differential that distributes the force to the two rear wheels. In future versions, a 4-wheel drive system is being considered to improve traction on sliding surfaces such as in wet or snowy terrain.

Computer on board

It is proposed to present in option the use of an on-board computer with a 7-inch touch screen that allows to have the information of the trip as partial or total, speed, average speed, maximum speed, pulsations, average pulsations, maximum pulsations, equipment multimedia, GPS navigation system, personal trainer, vehicle tracking system, etc.

For one or two?

That a vehicle like this is only for one person, strange to many. What amazes me is that many SUVs of more than 1500kg are used to go around the city and are occupied by only one person.

BEGORETT is for an adult (duct) and for a child up to 140 cm tall. This makes it a vehicle for a family of 4 people with two BEGORETT could work in a vehicle and at the same time accompany the children to school, activities, etc. In addition, it has a small trunk where you can put some bags. This increases your capacity if you do not use the rear seat to carry a child and it turns into a large trunk.

We need leaders!

We need leaders, people who have clear ideas, who know how to prioritize and make intelligent decisions both for themselves and for others. People capable of changing the world, who believe that climate change can be improved and act accordingly.

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