These Russian students made an electric car out of plywood
Two students from Tomsk have built a small wooden electric car. The vehicle cost 37,000 rubles (500 US dollars). It can reach speeds of up to 30 kilometers per hour.
According to RIA Tomsk, Vitaly Pyzhov with his girlfriend Alyona made the frame from a shaped pipe, while the wheels were taken from a gyro scooter. Students made the sheathing from sheets of plywood. A home-made battery with a capacity of 1 kilowatt-hour is installed on board. 30 kilometers of driving will cost only 4 rubles (approximately 5 cents), “but that’s not for sure.“
The four-door electric car is only 2.5 meters long and 64 centimeters wide, almost like the handlebars of a bicycle. The weight of the car does not exceed 100 kilograms.
“We have been driving it for the second day. It has already broken down several times, but we are repairing it, reinforcing it. Everybody honks us on the road,“ said Vitaly.
Elia Kabanov is a science writer covering the past, present, and future of technology (@metkere).