Homebrew Electric Pyramid Car

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Forget the Tesla electric car, you can have something far more stylish…errr, wait…that’s a lie. Far more efficient. Ummm, no. Hmm…how about a car that is “just as electric” as the Tesla? Believe it or not, the pyramid shaped one-seater took a year to build and cost $60,000.

It seats only one and runs on 80 batteries powering its 4 electric engines. It can reach a top speed of 45 mph, has a maximum range of about 80 miles; its re-charging time is close to 4 hours. It took Greg Zanis and his sons, Chris and Greg, $60,000 in supplies and over a year to assemble the prototype.
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I can think of way better things to spend a year and $60,000 doing.
 
$60k, insane. They could have used less than a third of that and gotten an electric car from europe.
 
hm, isn't the tesla like 85g's? So for an extra 25 they could have had a baller ass car instead of a slow ugly one :eek:
 
I'm not even seeing any sort of greater "research" benefit. 8000lbs FFS. Sounds like a way for a rich nerd to satiate his immense boredom. :p
 
I don't see anything costing $60k in the pictures. I think he spent the money elsewhere. Looks like $2000 tops to build that thing. $20 per battery*80=1600 + $400 in plywood and aluminum foil.
 
Ockie said:
With the tesla roadster, he could at least get some :p
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I know right, iwas thinking the same shit. A girl sees you in the pyramid shit and she's like what the fuck, but pulling up in a tesla is practically a freebie
 
Seriously this is a joke. Just strap a bunch of large Li-Polys in series to get up to the voltage you want, then take that "unit" and put enough of them in parallel till you get enough Amp hours. Judging from the pictures (I didn't read the article after I saw the pictures) its a bunch of 12 volt lead acid car batteries. (Worst Power:weight ratio there is...) No wonder it weighs 4 tons. 60K for all that? He must have blown up several prototypes while he was at it. I'd bet you could take a Circa 90s Civic refit it with the Li-poly's and electric motors for 1/2 that cost. And have something that actually looked like a car instead of a .... welll.... it's just plain fugly.:p
 
Wow. Just wow. I can buy an old porsche, remove the engine, put an ac motor in it, put batteries in the trunk etc, and with the donor car still be under $25k and have better performance AND range than that ugly pos.

Wtf did they waste their money on?
 
It looks like a undergraduate engineering project that a group of frat boys put together to get a C in the class.
 
This is just sad. The builder actually refers to it as "revolutionary." It brings absolutely nothing new to the table.

There is such a thing as a "magnificent obsession," a visionary who pursues an unlikely dream that has a certain beauty all of its own. The Tucker fell into this category, and things like the Aerocar and the Segway are kind of on the edge of it.

Then there are the cranks who waste their lives on things that only seem great to them, and who lack the ability to make their vision a reality even if it was great. I remember seeing a news report back in the late 70's/early 80's about a guy who was obsessed with building a highway between two midwestern cities that lacked an efficient, direct connection. When he couldn't convince any state or federal agencies to back it, he started buying land, got an old bulldozer and tried to build it himself in his spare time. His son was planning on following in his footsteps. I don't know what ever happened to him, but even he at least had a worthwhile goal in mind, even if he was laughably short of the resources to reach it.

This guy was just wasting his time and money. Much better results already achieved by many homebrew EV builders with far less money. What perceived need or niche does he believe this thing fills?
 
It could be considered an Art car, so looks aren't important.not that I would spend $60k on something like that. interesting tho.
 
I hope he saved those money for hookers, cause that car is an electric cockblocker on wheels.
 
This is what comes to my mind:

wuahahahahha rofl lawl omg lol wtf rice neons pyramid lulz :p

teenusa.jpg
 
Good luck getting that thing approved by DOT for road use. What a hunk of crap!! $60K are you serious? did they have a defence contractor build it for them?
 
can you imagine crashing in that thing at speed? if the impact didnt kill you first, the 4 tons of lead batteries impaling you in the ass would finish you off pretty quick. if i had to choose from driving that thing or a pink yugo, i be picking the yugo.
 
I'm all for making my own things, but when I saw this I just ask "Why???". What a waste of time and money. The guy looks like a complete tool sitting in that pyramid car.
 
sabrewolf732 said:
hm, isn't the tesla like 85g's? So for an extra 25 they could have had a baller ass car instead of a slow ugly one :eek:
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Tesla's MSRP for close to a $100k and the batteries in the car alone was mentioend to cost close to $40k.

But that's over 6000 li-ion 18650 cells.....this guy just has 80 lead acid batteries which are far cheaper. He must've also included labor costs and the equipment used to machine the metal as well lol.
 
I just had a thought. This whole story would make a lot more sense if the $60,000 was a typo and it actually cost him $6,000. It would still be too slow, too short-ranged and too ugly, but at least it wouldn't be such a mind-boggling waste of money.
 
Ok, so it looks good in the dark...it's kinda like sex with a fat ugly person you pick up at a bar; seeing it in the light of morning really makes you feel sick all over.
 
It't the "Slicer" from gone in 60 seconds: 2
4160rncQp8L._AA240_.jpg

Either that or the robot tank from six million dollar man, if I could only find a pic...
 
Who says you can’t pick up ladies in that thing? I think you all are just trying to the wrong types. Take that bad boy to a star wars convention, and the two chicks in the building would go nuts over it!

And yes, the first thing that came to my mind is Burning Man..... Not only the event, but what would happen to that poor b@stard if the batteries shorted out.

And that $60K figure has to be a lie. No more than $15K went into that thing…. At MOST.
 
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