electric horse-drawn tow !!!

[Grelinette]

Hello everyone.

I have an original project but although a handyman I am unable to implement the technical aspect and I am counting on you to help me. You have understood that "electric horse-drawn carriage" concerns the car, not the horse!

That's it, I am experienced and passionate horse drawn carriage and I live in a small town in which I wish to move in hitch, possibly with passengers. (Taxis can start worrying about the competition I'm going to give them! )

The problem is that my town is located on an area with a lot of terrain where braking constraints downhill and traction uphill (for the horse!). I thought I could equip a horse-drawn car (2 wheels or 4 wheels) with an electric auxiliary motor for climbs and a charging system in descents.

Apart from the mechanical aspect that remains to be solved, there are also other issues to consider such as the excess weight of the batteries and the engine: What is the excess weight of the system for a vehicle that can reach in total weight under load? about 550 kg (car = 200 kg + 5 people = 350 kg.

At the base there are 2 possibilities of possible equipment in my opinion:

- modify a real horse-drawn car with an electrical system. Car of this type:

- or build a horse-drawn car with a road vehicle axle so as to have already the transmission system on which adapted engine and charging system.

Would there be specialists in the field or others that this type of project inspires? Thank you for your advice, comments and suggestions.

For example, this is a problem to avoid:

and for those who want to know more about the uses of animal energy, here is an interesting site: http://hippotese.free.fr/blog/index.php/ ... and for the nostalgic: http://www.debrichy.net/video/index.html

[Christophe]

It inspires me but I do not understand too much: you want to do something 100% electric or electric assistance by keeping a real horse?

Otherwise here is a video version of the donkey: http://www.dailymotion.com/econologie/v ... es_animals

[dirk pitt]

your project is very interesting and in my opinion quite realistic.
in fact, your vehicle would be an electric-horse-drawn hybrid
the electric motor just helping the main engine (horse) in the odds would require limited power and also a limited autonomy since the odds do not last forever and you also recharge in the downhill.

As you know the horse better than I do, you would have to tell us approximately what "weight" you would like to compensate in the odds to help the horse and in what percentage of odds.
Let me explain:
you "feel" that the horse would go well with 1 person instead of 5 in the car for a rating of 5% for example
or in a rating of 2% 1 person less would suffice.

it will give an idea of ​​the power needed for the engine and after we speak of autonomy to find the best compromise weight / power of the electrical assembly

How fast do you go on the flat (normal pace) and side?

[Christophe]

Ok it's a hybrid then! I was not sure.

I think it's realistic technolgically but ... financially it's less safe!

You could inspire the circuits of electric bicycles assistance ... 10 times bigger!

An assistance bike does not work when you do not pedal: it does not create an RPM but simply increases the engine torque (or decreases it depends on the point of view)! So that's exactly what you need ...

[petromax]

Hello,

The idea of ​​Hybrid horse-drawn / electric coupling has also appeared to me to be interesting. Here are a few thoughts:

- The use of motor wheels on the front axle (steering) could be interesting. The unsprung weight is not a big handicap for a vehicle running (very) rarely more than 30 km / h.

- A kit similar to those proposed for the electrification of bicycles (in larger ones) would be effectively adapted.

- A start assist function (controlled by a pedal) would be useful to save horses, big torque to provide for the engine.

- The battery recharging function could be operated by a brake pedal, 1 is part of the electric retarder stroke, 2 is part of the original hydraulic braking stroke.

- Compatibility between a wheel motor and low speed of travel (5 / 6 km / h) must be checked, it may be necessary to go through a gearbox.

- The electric assistance would also be useful for possibly mounting a sidewalk or perform a complicated maneuver to back.

[Gregconstruct]

Fun as a project!

[Humor / we]
We could recover the crotin to produce energy thanks to the biomass ...
[Humor / off]

[Grelinette]

Hello and thank you for all his answers.

Just to answer Gregconstruct, on his idea to recover the dung to produce energy: there are duffel bags that are fixed behind the horse to prevent it from falling over the ground especially if you drive on the roads. But beyond recovering it in a machine that turns it into energy !!! ... better then harness cattle big producer of methane gas and recover the gas directly by a pipe placed where you imagine ... it would be a kind of natural turbo!

Otherwise, I will actually get closer to the manufacturers of auxiliary electrical systems for bike or cart and see if one or more of these more powerful systems may be suitable for a horse-drawn car.

Do you know a serious manufacturer or dealer? (I live in the Bouches du Rhône)


Finally, a small question of general culture, if I may say: I have seen on other subjects that we often refer to the CV (horse steam) initially based on the pulling force of a real horse. On the occasion of an equestrian club party, we hitched a draft horse about 800 kg and we tried to hold him in his progress. In your opinion, how many men did we have to hold him to prevent him from advancing?

Tig ... Tig ... Tig ... you have 30 seconds to answer ... (a fresh and natural bag of crotin to the winner).

[dirk pitt]

I do not know how many men, but it does not really tell you how powerful the horse is. on average on 24h, a horse delivered 736W, it is well known but it seems that it can do 5kw for a few hours and even 10kw in peak.

for the wheel motors from the bike kit, pay attention to the speed of rotation which I think will be too high compared to the speed of the horse.

[Gregconstruct]

it is better then to harness big methane gas producers and recover the gas directly by a pipe placed where you imagine ... it would be a kind of natural turbo!

Not stupid that!

[Grelinette]

Here is the answer to my question: we were more than 35 adults to stop the horse (I did not count the children who had also added to pull the rope).

It's a lot of power and it was not the biggest draft horse.

In addition to a draft horse, not only it adapts to the load to shoot (cart, tree trunks, sled, dumper, ...), but in addition he has the technique. For example, in the case of this event, the formidable technique of the experienced horse that we were trying to retain to get started: he put all his weight on his shoulders ... and then a little more shoulder and we made a one meter forward!
It's not trucks or tractors that are capable of that ...

Well, I'm generous, I give you the point to all. Give me your addresses so that I send you the bag of fresh crotin.