But we're here at Mawson Lakes in lovely Adelaide with R.I.O.S and today I'm going to get to drive this,
Trev, the electric car.
Now Trev was built by a very talented team at the University of South Australia
led by this extremely talented man Peter Pudney.
So Peter, can you tell me what the original sort of motivation was for building this?
Yeah, we used to build solar racing cars that race from Darwin to Adelaide across Australia
and we figured if we could drive from Darwin to Adelaide without using petrol
we should be able to get to work and back without using petrol.
So we wanted a car that we could use all the time for just driving around town
that didn't use fossil fuels.
So it was originally a university based development and engineering project?
And we hired an industrial designer to take our industrial design students to develop the concept
and then our mechanical engineering, electrical engineering students
actually did all the detailed design and built the car.
So it was absolutely designed and built within the university?
Yeah, by students.
Right, brilliant.
And so just go through a few of the things because I've driven a few electric cars.
I've never driven one like this.
It's slightly different.
So I mean in terms of batteries and range and all those things.
So I mean what are the batteries that you've used?
The lithium-ion polymer battery.
Right.
When we first built the car we wanted a range of about 100 kilometres
so we had about 40 kilograms of lithium-ion polymer.
Right.
We've then upgraded to about 80 kilograms
and it's now got a range of over 200 kilometres.
Wow, that's really good.
Wow, that's fantastic.
But that's a very healthy range.
I mean there's quite a lot of commercially available electric vehicles
that haven't got that kind of range.
Yeah, and the secret is it's 300 kilograms all up for the car
so it doesn't take a lot of energy to push it along the road.
I mean commercial electric vehicles are often quite heavy.
I mean they're way heavier.
So yeah, way, way heavier.
That's incredible that you managed to keep it that light
but with that range it's really impressive.
And what sort of speeds does it, you know, I mean is it road legal?
It can go on the roads.
It's road legal, it will drive at normal road speeds
so top speed is over 100 kilometres now.
Right, right.
So Peter, I'm intrigued by the design because it's,
I think it's fair to say unusual,
not what people are used to with cars.
Yeah.
Three wheels and then passengers,
the passengers sitting behind the driver.
I mean can you explain why those decisions were made?
There were two reasons for that really.
First is we knew that it had to be lightweight
and it had to be aerodynamic.
So having the passenger behind the driver
means that we can get good aerodynamics.
Three wheels, if you've got two wheels, it'll fall over.
If you've got four, you've got more weight
and more complexity than you need.
The other reason we did it like this is
because we wanted something that didn't look like a normal car.
Right.
So it's designed specifically for commuting.
We don't want people to accidentally, you know,
hook a caravan up to it and drive it across Australia.
So that's not what it's for.
And so having one passenger behind the other
basically means that the bit that's pushing into the wind
is reduced.
You can keep it now, right?
And it also gives the driver a really good view of the road.
There's no A-pillars.
Yeah.
And most of the time,
most people driving in Australia have just one person in the car.
Yes.
They're going to work and back.
So we don't often use the back seat,
but it's there in case you need it.
Right.
And what about the motors?
It's got one motor.
It's got one motor.
It's actually at the moment got a motor off an electric scooter.
So the whole rear swing arm has got the motor,
the reduction gear and the wheel all in one unit.
So it's the rear wheel that drives it.
It's the rear wheel that drives it.
And what else have you done with it?
So since you built it,
you presumably haven't just driven it around the campus.
We've done very little driving around the campus.
The students that built it actually took it to Darwin
and drove it from Darwin to Adelaide
to the demonstration class in the World Solid Challenge.
Once we'd done that,
I got a phone call from someone saying,
is it any good for long trips?
And they showed me a map of the world.
Could we drive it around the world?
Before I thought about it, I said, yeah, we can do that.
So we did.
Wow.
We drove it from Geneva,
headed east and basically kept driving
until we got back to Geneva.
Wow.
So this car has been around the world?
It has.
It did about 28,000 kilometres around the world.
Wow.
I mean, I'm just intrigued by, you know,
there's some longer trips I've done in the UK
where I've got to plug in.
Yeah.
So presumably you had to plan the journey in advance
to find out places you could stop.
The trip was planned
and we would generally drive for, you know,
200 kilometres or so in the morning,
plug in, charge up while we're having lunch,
long lunch.
Yeah.
And then in the afternoon, drive again.
Do another ride.
Right.
Wow.
And you got right around the world.
That's amazing.
But was that just this team
or were there other people involved in that?
No, there were three teams
that did the round the world trip.
Right.
So you had backup support and...
We had a little bit of backup support.
There was one support van for the three teams.
Right.
Oh, that's all right.
Oh, that's not too bad.
Yeah, we were fairly self-sufficient during the journey.
Right.
That's fantastic.
And when did you finish that then?
That was 2010 we started
and we finished in February 2011.
Right, right.
What other projects have you been working on?
Well, since then we've just been,
we have been doing what was designed for
and just driving it around the city.
Right.
And we're currently working on a project
with an NGO based in Zimbabwe.
They contacted me and said,
could we build them a solar car
for transporting patients to a hospital?
Right.
Because at the moment,
you know, pregnant women in particular
have to walk more than 10 kilometers
to get to a hospital.
Right, to get to a hospital.
So, well, initial thoughts were,
there's no way you'd do that.
It's just ludicrous.
You just use a petrol car
or something off the shelf.
But they really don't have any energy.
So we're looking at designing them
something that can be solar powered.
And when you say solar powered,
does that...
Because I think a lot of people
who don't know a lot about electric vehicles
go, why can't you just put solar panels
on the roof of the car and use that?
Yeah.
Well...
And it's quite easy to explain,
it would have to be a very big car.
It would have to be an enormous car.
Yeah, so the solar racing cars
that drive from Darwin to Adelaide
have got six square meters
of the most expensive panels
that you can possibly buy.
You know, they spend millions of dollars
on their solar panels
to drive a very small, lightweight vehicle.
Yeah.
With one person lying down in it.
Exactly, yeah.
So for a practical vehicle,
you need more energy than you can get from...
Right.
So in Africa, for instance,
there would be solar panels
that would charge the car.
Is that the plan?
Well, we would have some solar panels
that would charge up batteries
and then we'd have battery packs
that you can switch in and out of the car.
Right, I see.
We maybe have some solar on the car as well.
Yeah.
But essentially,
you've got a transportation system
that is not reliant on fuel from anywhere else.
Because there isn't fuel from anywhere else.
Right.
It's the only fuel they've got.
Yeah.
And so we have to use very little energy.
Right.
So that's, again, going to be a lightweight vehicle
that can transport one pregnant woman
and a driver, presumably.
Is that the idea?
And the pregnant woman's friend.
Right.
And a pot and some chickens.
Right.
So it has to be able to carry all that.
It has to be able to carry all the supplies.
And you haven't constructed that yet,
but that's a plan that's in...
Once again, we've started,
we've got some industrial designers
who are working on the industrial design.
We've got the team that drove Trevor
around the world is working on it.
Right.
And we're going to build something this year.
But that's really good that there's people
with actual direct hands-on experience
of one building vehicle,
but two, keeping it going in, you know,
there's going to be areas you went through
around the world that were fairly challenging.
Yes.
Well, yes.
To say the least.
That's right.
And, you know, with an experimental car,
it wasn't the most reliable car,
but we were able to keep it moving.
Right.
So you've got that advantage to build on
to make something that's fairly solid,
reliable, simple, and presumably also,
which I think is important that people don't understand,
very simple to maintain.
It has to be...
Well, firstly, it had to be very simple to build
because it was built by a bunch of students.
And secondly, it had to be, yeah,
very reliable because, you know,
we're not very good at building cars,
but we're also not very good at fixing cars,
so it has to be simple.
Well, I'd love to have a go in it if I'm allowed.
Or certainly.
You're comfy in the back.
Yeah, it's beautiful back here.
It's fantastic.
Oh, it's comfy.
Very secure door.
So should we shut the lid?
You can do that.
You can do that.
Oh.
Oh.
Wow, that is an interesting engine noise.
Wow, this is...
I love the sound a bit, isn't it?
It's actually got something of the train about it,
in a way, isn't it?
An all-reverb range through the body.
Yeah.
It's got some warmth.
I mean, it's much quicker than I'd expect
to make the most impressive presentation.
What's the speed limit on here?
50-ish.
Sorry.
That's a nice shift.
That's amazing.
I just realized I'd only been used to be very tall.
Yeah.
How's it fit?
So how warm is it in the back?
Oh, it's beautiful.
Very mild.
Very mild, yeah.
Fantastic.
What a thrill.
Oh, that's quite a relief.
It is brilliant.
What a brilliant car.
It is quite noisy,
but the faster you go, the less noisy it is.
The initial pull away is quite...
But it's a cool noise.
I like it.
It's got a mixture of suburban train
and stuka dive bomber,
which I think is really, really good mixture of sounds.
And the indicators
I got a bit wrong.
Well, I've still got an indicator on.
But it's really good.
I love it.
And it's very easy to drive.
Once you get used to it,
the kind of space of where you are,
you can't quite tell how wide it is.
And you think it's wider than it really is,
but actually it's very narrow.
So it's brilliant.
And I was very cool and comfortable in the front.
What was it like as a passenger, Peter?
It was just very relaxing back here.
I only made one or two minor driver errors.
Well, Peter, I mean, that was genuinely a real thrill for me.
That was a fantastic thing to drive.
I mean, I can see that, you know,
obviously if you had the time
and you were finessing it as a commercial vehicle,
you can make it quiet and blah, blah, blah.
But actually, you get in and out really easily.
It goes along.
I broke the speed limit, as we know.
But not by much, but it just flies along.
I mean, that was the biggest surprise.
I somehow thought,
oh, well, this is a kind of experimental
university built vehicle.
It probably does 30 miles an hour.
You know, no, this thing might go.
That thing will go.
The indicators confuse the hell out of me.
I didn't know what was going on with that.
But I mean, it was such a joy to drive,
really easy to drive.
I mean, once you get used to it,
really clever, really clever.
And I mean, the fact that it's gone around the world
is a testament that it actually does work
and it is a functioning.
And I mean, also that this technology works,
you know, and that all the arguments
you hear against it are going,
well, yeah, I know all that,
but you can drive around the world a month.
I'll still use it.
Yes, exactly.
Yeah, no, brilliant.
Thanks so much indeed.
You're welcome.
Well, that was a really cool experience.
Thanks to UniSA and RIOS for making it happen.
And if you want to find out more about Trev
and the electric transport projects in Africa,
check out teamtrev.com.
And if you want a bit more science with a twist,
check out rios.org.au.
Well, that's all from me, Robert Llewellyn,
and as you like to say over here in Australia,
we'll see you today.
