DIY Hybrid 'Lectric Scooter

[quinnf]

I was driving somewhere last Saturday and I passed a sight that I thought I'd mention here.  An older fellow, evidently a proud veteran, because he was wearing a navy blue ball cap with the name of some naval ship (I presume) embroidered above the bill in gold letters, was navigating his electric 3-wheel mobility scooter along a bike path on the side of a 2 lane road.  He was probably 2 miles or so from the nearest electrical plug, and I immediately wondered just how he was going to get back, because he was heading out into the countryside and away from town.  As I slowed down to pass, I waved to him and he waved back, I noticed he was pulling a 2-wheel trailer made from a wheelchair.  And bungee-corded to a platform between the wheels was a Honda generator cabled to his drive battery. 

Pretty resourceful guy.  Wish I had a pic to post, but I was without my camera. 

Quinn

[squarebob]

The fancy scooters "claim" 7.5 MPH and over 20 mile range. Still nice to have the Honda along with ya though.

http://www.easymobilityco.com/ctm_hs-730_mobility_scooter.htm

Bob

[fabricator]

ROTFLMAO, that NEEDS to be on youtube.

[vdubnut62]

Yes it does!
Ron

[mbryner]

That's hilarious!   Doesn't your cell phone have a camera?!

[BruceM]

The guy is impaired enough to not be not able to drive, likely, or walk much, yet instead of whining in front of the TV and waiting to helped, he's resourceful enough to get about independently with some home brew "extended range" capability. This is a guy who we should applaud, and give a big thumbs up to.  Like Quinn, I say bravo to him.

[quinnf]

I'll keep my camera with me and grab a pic next time. 

It's pretty cool he was out there trying something new.  Don't know if he'd run afoul of the black and whites that patrol the area.  I suppose technically he's a motor-driven vehicle, and I suppose wheelchairs and mobility devices aren't supposed to be on bike lanes, either.  But I was struck by the gray haired gent sitting proudly on his scooter smiling at the passers-by as he proceeded at a leisurely pace down a country road followed by his trusty Honda EU-2000 on a warm Spring day.

q.

[DanG]

It's been erased from the internet, but a guy at woodalls.com a long ago had a Golf Cart with twin Honda Eu2000 Inverter Generators fed through a huge battery charger core..  Without the battery weight they had problems keeping the wheels on the ground, top speed over 40mph!