DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF VARIABLE WHEELBASE PLATFORM FOR PASSENGER AND COMMERCIAL ELECTRIC VEHICLE

Varun V More, Atul A Gurav, Siddhesh K Patade, Manuja Pandey

Abstract: The variable wheelbase platform aims at reducing the vehicle space usage on the road, which in turn can help with reducing the traffic congestions and also with the parking space crisis faced by many metropolises now. The platform is designed in such a way that the vehicle will have easy, safe and stable maneuverability even at higher speeds. To ensure that the chassis is safe and stable in expanded as well as in contracted wheelbase conditions different mechanisms are used for the expansion of the wheelbase and for its locking. These mechanisms will also be electrically powered to ensure smooth functioning. The concept of the platform which can be used commonly for both, the commercial as well as passenger electric vehicles can be considered as a modern approach when the automobile industry is moving towards reducing the manufacturing cost, scraps and provide more features to the consumers. The platform being designed exclusively for electric power transmission ensures that the project concept is future ready and eco friendly. The concept of the variable wheelbase also helps us to have a modular approach in designing the vehicles ahead. In this project, the platform has been analysed in its expanded as well as contracted wheelbase condition for different parameters (like Compression Strength Analysis, Torsion Analysis, Factor of Safety). The Expansion and the locking mechanisms too have been analysed for their strength and load bearing capacity. The Power Screw and the linear bearings which are used to power the expansion are also analysed to test and certify their endurance limit. All the Computer Aided Designing and the analysis is been done on the SOLIDWORKS 2016 software.

Keywords: variable wheelbase, traffic congestion, future concept, eco friendly and modular approach, etc.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15623/ijret.2017.0608009