Something is wrong with the roads in St. Petersburg. Pothole. A rut. Pothole. - Guess what kind of car?
- BMW? - Almost. - Uncommunicative? - To the right. There's a go-kart here, it's cool, look! Why do drivers drive like crazy? What wrong with them? What if I turned right now? What's with all this rush? People wash their cars in the parking lot. - Looks like we're here, huh? Folks, 55 seconds, quick commercial break. We'll find a place to park and move on. - Wow, that's quite a license plate. - Hello!
- Hey! - Park right there.
- Okay. Folks, we read your comments, and do it all the time. "You have gone out of the countries!", "when do you plan to come back?". Look at the trailer license plate. So, "when do you plan to go back?", "record something in Russia." Here you go. Pixel electric car. Made in St. Petersburg with his own hands and while Anton is out, let's show a little snapshot of what this project is all about. And then we will talk to Anton. / - Hi!
- Hi! - Folks, for your attention Anton. The man who created his YouTube channel in November 2021. - That's right.
- He made a solar-powered car. - Yeah.
- And now he's made this. - Yes. I built the first solar car in order to race in Kazakhstan, which was last year. This year they are also taking place, but unfortunately, I did not have time for them, because the Pixel has no solar panels yet. Well, this is a more complex project. I decided to take up the idea, built my first solar car. I was able to drive 3,000 kilometers using only solar energy.
- That's pretty cool. - As you know, we drive about 50-60 km to work. And I got the idea to make a city electric car with solar charging capability. - Tell us a little about yourself, what is your education? - I have a degree in economics. At one time I was an amateur off-roader. That is, I never held a bolt drill and a screwdriver in my hands. But it so happened that somewhere deep in me, apparently, there was an engineer. And it came out in this form. My first project was called Solarghini. And after that I understood that I can work not only with my head but also do something with my hands. Then I announced this project to my audience, I announced that I was putting together a team of enthusiasts, because I don't know much about electrics, programming, boards and things like that. A very large number of people showed up. I now have about 60 guys in my team. - Wow!
- They do design and load calculations and... - What was that?
- What was that? - Did you hear that? Something crunched.
- Maybe he's alive after all. - Really?
- Yeah, I think it might have shorted out. - A short?
- I hastily wired the headlights yesterday to show you, but I'll tell you about it later. - Okay.
- I'll let you in on a little secret... - I smell something burning. - Yeah? Let me open the hood and see what's going on. - The doors go up! It's beautiful. - Look, I don't think that's where we're smelling it.
- Not from there? - No. I'm your subscriber.
- What do you think of the car? - It's great!
- Seriously? - Yeah.
- Are you from around here, from St. Petersburg? - Not exactly, but I live here now.
- Where are you from? - Kazan.
- Why did you come here? To visit? - I moved here for work back in 2020. I live here now. - Where is it cooler - St. Petersburg or Kazan?
- St. Petersburg, I guess. - Yes, I met you.
- What's your name? - Yaroslav. - Nice to meet you. Look, what an interesting project, have you seen it on YouTube? - Yeah, I watch it every episode.
- Oh, wow. - So this is my subscriber, not yours.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. - I can tell you in confidence that with this project in October I was invited by a fairly large state company to show my project. - And put it on the assembly line? - And give a little lecture. Maybe on the assembly line. I do not know, we'll see how it goes. Although initially I positioned this project as open source. That is, a project that anyone can put together. And we have any software, whether it's firmware for the head monitor, or diagrams for frame welding or body assembly. It's all in the public domain, which means that anyone can assemble exactly the same car from the drawings, from the schematics. - Let's unload it. - How much does it weigh?
- 350 kg. - The car weighs 350 kilograms all together?
- Yes. I have a request for you to watch me with the wheels. - Come on, that's the best part. I've seen a lot of videos on the Internet about it. - Are you pushing with your foot? Slowly, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! This one's about to fall. - Do the doors not lock?
- Not yet. - Not yet?
- You actually caught this project in the middle of completion. I think you're in luck, because I can tell you how and what's being assembled. Those same headlights aren't finished. You can see they're just 3D-printed. - Uh-huh. - So they'll have to be covered with more glass and everything. The rear end isn't finished yet either. As far as the legitimacy of using such a vehicle on public roads, this car falls under the L6 category of vehicles - quad bikes. That is, in fact, it is practically a moped. You don't need registration, you don't need license plates or documents, but in order to ride legally on the roads, you have to be certified and get a design safety certificate. You don't have to do a crash test there, you don't have to test the power elements for strength, and so on. There is a list of requirements that you have to meet and get a certificate. I will do that after I get it fully assembled. And in fact, when I was building it, I used this list as a guide and followed all the requirements. The main thing is that the power rating of this car is only 4kW. - Tell me in the usual numbers, horsepower. - In horsepower it's about six. The basic requirements are weight up to 350 kg, maximum speed up to 50 km/h and rated power not more than 4 kw. But these motors allow you to go faster. In the test format, I accelerated it to 90 km/h. If I have an opportunity to open some kind of mass production or to find sponsors, it would be possible to put this car into another category, to get a license plate, documents and to drive a car which would be able to compete with Tesla. Okay, not a Tesla, but at least a Citroen Ami. - It's not a car! It's a quad with roof! But okay for city driving. / - Tell me from the beginning. Based on what, how and where? - The frame is completely designed and welded from scratch. I have an "invisible" team of guys from all over the world behind me, by the way. - Cool. - They help, they calculate, particularly the bending loads.
- Wow. - We picked out the pipe profile that was needed. The frame design was born, based on the fact that we will use the most common suspension, and we came to the decision that it will be the suspension from the VAZ-2109. - Front and rear suspensions are completely from VAZ. It works very well. For such a lightweight car, I think this is the best option. - Cool.
- Plus the cost of the set is inexpensive. - It is very important that you not only figured out some things, roughly speaking how to build a car, but also assembled a team. You have organizational skills. It's so damn hard! - That is the most important thing.
- People don't get money, do they? - No.
- They work for free. - Of course, I really want to motivate them and thank them, and I have ideas as to how all this can be realized. - Do you have a chat room on Telegram or how is this organized? - We chat in Discord. Plus we have a channel on GitHub, where we upload everything. Again, any software, which is in this machine, it's in the public domain. That's our principle; we don't classify or license anything. On the contrary, we think that the more people who can actually see these programs, the more they can make some comments and adjustments. - That is interesting.
- That's the premise of this project. - We assembled a frame, put it on a suspension from VAZ-2109.
- Who did it by hand? - All absolutely I did alone.
- That means you did everything physically? - Yeah. I'm alone in a regular garage. I don't have any professional equipment, I have a bolt cutter, a welder and a screwdriver. I assembled the frame, put the suspension on it and started slowly working on the interior, paneling, ordered the glass. - Why is the body such a ridiculous shape? Really, no offense. - No hard feelings. I'll explain. Because in order to replicate it in a normal garage environment, the simplest option is to use these simple polygonal lines. - Like the Tesla Cybertruck.
- Right. - I did my last project in fiberglass. It was a one-piece fiberglass body. I had an insane amount of trouble with it. - What's wrong with it?
- I think it's very difficult for one person to replicate. It doesn't take anything complicated to make a body like that. It's just cut out on a straight sheet, a reamer is made, notches are made, it's all bent and bolted to the body. That's it. - What do you think of the car?
- What's that? - What's what? It's a Pixel.
- Is it homemade? - The man made it with his own hands.
- It's kind of a concept. - All right, guys, good luck.
- Thank you. - So, what's that over there, a cup holder? That's the wiring on the desk, isn't it? - It's an air duct. It's actually the original, like from the Lada Granta, air duct. That is, it opens, rotates. - There's a lot of Lada in there.
- Yeah, because it's cheap. - Wow! Wow! What a cool engine! Where is it, by the way? - I'll tell you. I think this is the best way to see what the whole car is made of. That is the frame, thinner reinforcements all around, two thin sheets of aluminum and a layer of polystyrene between them. This is the engine itself. So small it drives this whole car. Two 2 kW motors. - Where do the motors come from? - They're ordinary Chinese motors. QS Motor. Everything about the electronics, 90% from China, because now they are really good. Their quality is good, I can tell you that. I used their engines for 3,000 km in Kazakhstan and I haven't had any complaints. And these same motors will now run this route again. The set of motors, controllers and all the electronics required to drive the car without a battery, cost me $1000. The most expensive item is the batteries. I have them here at 5.5 kilowatt hours. - And where are they?
- Under the floor. You can't see them there. - Under the floor like a Tesla?
- Yes. Again, it's for weight distribution. The 5.5 kilowatt-hour battery allows you to drive about 130, 150 kilometres a day.
- Is that now? - Yes. The battery costs about $900. - Also from China?
- Yeah. - Do they send everything? Can I just order?
- No problem. You can, of course, put more powerful motors for 25 kW, but the price will grow accordingly. - The Chinese have cut off alternatives with their prices. - Not yet. We have in our country and in the near abroad, who produce both motors and controllers. But if we're talking about the complete set and batteries in particular, of course, only China. Perhaps, and I hope so, we will have alternatives for all this. - Did something not fit together somewhere? - Because we are modeling it all on the computer, we are building a 3D model of the frame, cladding and suspension. - I see. - It's very difficult to do something wrong once you have everything calculated. I first picked up a welder when I started building my first solar car. I had no experience, but I slowly learned. - So you know how to weld yourself now?
- Sure I can. - Do you have your own welding machine?
- Yeah, I do. - Oh, wow.
- You've been doing this since November 2021? - Yeah, I have.
- Do you work anywhere? - Of course I am.
- Oh, so you don't do it all the time? - No, it's a hobby. I do it after work every day. Well, almost every day. Two or three hours. - You got a trunk?
- Yeah. - Have you thought about doing something here? For a Louis Vuitton suitcase. - I want to make a plastic box here. Like on the Tesla, when you open the trunk, it's not the hood, it's the trunk. - Yeah.
- The trunk. - It's just a luxury look!
- The trunk, I think, is good. - Definitely. It's got to be a little higher, don't you think? So you won't hit your head. - The trunk, hood and roof are going to have solar panels.
- Nice. - Why I made the actuator, it's not just something I want to do. I can use it to set the optimum angle. That is, put the car to the sun, lift it up, and when the sun's rays fall at right angles, the charge goes a lot more. - Is it really that fundamental?
- Of course it is. - In Europe, nothing on the roofs of houses is regulated, as it stands as it stands. - Because they can't, but I can.
- Does it really increase efficiency? - A lot! Probably by 30 percent.
- It's amazing! - Okay, I see they're not tires, they're wheels. Judging by the inscription "temporary use." - They're Jaguar wheels.
- They are? - Yes. I managed to buy them for $40 each.
- So you bought them? - Yes.
- You didn't go out at night with the team to get them? In fact, as it turned out, it's quite difficult to find four identical wheels. They're not all sold together. Look, the wheels are narrow, it's to reduce rolling resistance. So they're temporary, they're a temporary wheels. Where do you drive them to? - They've done 3,000 miles.
- Really? - They're the wheels I had on that car up front. Please note your attention to the width. You know the wheels on a BMW I3?
- Yeah, they're the same, by the way. - The same narrow ones. Because on all electric cars, rolling resistance is very important. At low speeds, it is the wheel contact area that affects much more than the aerodynamics. The wheels have 3.5 atmospheres in them now. If you inflate two for comfort, you get 1.5 times the consumption. - Amazing! - You forgot to show the most interesting thing. - Since, after all, this is an electric car and it is used in St. Petersburg, you can not always count on the energy of the sun. Here's a charger we saw somewhere here, in yellow. It's right there. Can you recharge there? - That's right, I can charge there. It's a Type 2 plug, I've converted it to a regular 220-volt outlet. What I have here, look, is a classic plug from an electric car. It plugs in here and on the other side is just a regular plug that you can plug into the socket. - How long does it take to charge? - It takes about 6 hours to charge. 5.5 kW, one kilowatt at night costs $0.05, a little more expensive during the day, about $0.1. - So that's how much you spend?
- $0.5. - That's amazing! Only $0.5? - It will cost $0.5 if you charge it full during the day. Mileage of 150 kilometers on $0.5. - Let's shift our gaze here.
- You are right. I redeem myself by doing so. - So this is your compensation car? - Actually, I've had this car for a very long time, it's from 2011. I like it very much. And I use it so far for transportation of such vehicles. You could consider that I have two cars of 3 liters each. - Show me the interior. Wow, how easy the door is to open. - There's a stop. It's just that the door has gotten heavy with the windows, and there's not enough power. - This car is amazing! What other car can you drive like that in? What's the steering wheel from? - A Tesla!
- Did it? Where did you get it? - I got it on Aliexpress. - They sell a Tesla Plaid steering wheel on Aliexpress? - It's a real Tesla steering wheel. Only the Model 3 is round, and the Chinese have converted them. They just change the shape to match the Plaid. So this is the original, which is on the steering rack from the Zhiguli. - This is ridiculous. - The guys have already developed special software. It starts itself when you turn on the ignition. The speed will be displayed here, the silhouette of the pixel with the main buttons which will also function. That is, it will be possible to open the doors, they will electronically open. It will also be possible to open the hood and trunk. Perhaps some other functions will be available. From below, there will be a light control panel, lights, low and high beam, turn signals, and hazard lights. In other words, it is the same as the Tesla, a full-fledged software product which allows you to monitor the condition of the car. There are a lot of different functions. - Do all the buttons work here? - Yes, everything works. You can monitor the battery status, you can turn on the navigator, or any other applications that are available here. You can turn on, for example, YouTube. - Wow, there's even YouTube. I love how your head fits in here. And the biggest question is, why are you doing all this? When you can buy a BYD in China for $5000. You could bring it here, take it apart and put it back together like a lot of people do. And put something homemade on it. - Well, I think I can do better than that. It will be more economical if I can localize production. I'll be able to do a better design. At the same time I'll be able to show other people the car I made myself. Show them and say, "Look, it's my car driving down the road!" I think a lot of people would like to say that. - It's priceless. So, we should go for a ride. Can we arrange that?
- You can go for a ride by yourself. - Wow, it's beautiful. Does it open? Everything functions with buttons, right? - Yes - Will you trust me with the car? I want to drive it carefully here in the parking lot.
- Yes, please. - Well, let's give it a shot. - Wait, what's this? Is there a big red button here?
- Yes, that's it, when you switch it to "off," it turns everything off. - Since this is a prototype I need to have a button that turns everything off quickly, with one press. - Since this is a prototype I need to have a button that turns everything off quickly, with one press. - Is that sure to work?
- Yep - And how do the doors open, just with a button?
- Yes, or there's a backup right here. - This one?
- Yeah, there's a lever that you have to pull back. - That's cool! Everybody needs a lever like that just in case. - And then, of course, you can either open the doors with a button or with a remote, which means you can just push it from the screen. - I was once given a hypertruck to drive in Novosibirsk. Did you see this issue? - How to turn? There's smoke here! H*** ****! It doesn't open. - So, what are our next steps? Wait, how do you open the door if the button is there, and the window is closed? - It will open from the phone.
- From the phone? - Yes.
- What if the owner forgets the phone? - I'll probably put a special sensor in here. - It will open by card, like the Tesla, or I'll even try to put in a fingerprint sensor.
- Will it have a standard handle? - No! The door will open completely by itself. It originally opened that way, they just misjudged the weight of the door a little bit and the air brake stopped holding it. I'll have to get a bigger one. - So you're one of those people who insists on using new technology so much that the old interfaces don't use them at all? - Everything should be automated. - But there must be some alternatives. Even trolleybuses have a button under the wheel that you can press to open the doors. - I have a backup cable. If necessary, the door can be opened. the cable can open the doors, in case the battery is dead, or else something else happens. The cable is hidden, but the car owner knows how to open the door in that case. And so, usually, you walk up to the car, use your fingerprint to open it. - What if there's a Band-Aid on your finger? - You could program a second finger for that. Or you could use a cable. - What do we do?
- Let's go! - Get in and drive?
- Yes! - It's elementary. You also told us about the bed. Theoretically, you could make a bed in here? - That's what I wanted to do. I really like the concept of having a flat floor in the car. There is nothing to obstruct and driver can move freely. True, it lacks cup holders and other convenient devices. But it is possible to place a lying place here. I planned to test the car in Kazakhstan, at the race of 3000 kilometers. And there, accordingly, I have to sleep in the car. - So, Anton, give me a command!
- The handbrake must be taken off. - That's a lot of buttons! This is for opening the doors, and this is for opening/closing the trunk. - This is the button to open the hood, here turn on the lights, low and high beam headlights. So, is the handbrake off? - Whoa, she's on now.
- It's light! Can you guess where the gear is? - Where's the seat belt?
- Not required! It's not factory installed. That's what I tell everyone. - Factory, hello!
- Hello! - Nice to meet you, factory.
- It's in neutral now. - Down?
- Yes, at the very bottom is neutral, the next one up is reverse. The next one up is Drive. - Like this?
- Yes, the next one up is neutral again. - Two neutrals in the car? That's genius! - Actually, at the bottom will be Parking, which will lock the wheels. At the very top will be neutral, which will allow the car to be pushed or rolled somewhere. - I'm ready! - I don't know if you'd rather have the door all the way closed, or if you'd rather leave it like that? - It's better that way! - Can you open the door?I dont know how! It jammed! Thanks - Can I drive?
- Well, yes, step on the gas. - Are the brakes all right? - They're new, they haven't been run in yet.
- What kind of brakes from what car? - You don't want to know. - Ha-ha, yes, some things are better not to know. Here we go, it's humming. You can, of course, spew a lot of skepticism on the subject. Claim that such an activity is useless, because there are Chinese cars, there are kits and it is not worth wasting your time. But first of all, the man wants to figure it all out for himself, that's worthy of respect. Second, he didn't just figure it out, he did it. It remains to be seen where this will go next, what it will lead to, and what it will do for the automobile industry. Anton has already been invited to show his project. It's clear that it's all quite simple and quite elementary. And a lot of people who want to can figure it out. Not just do the same, but better. Wow, there's a speed bump, that's interesting. So, where's the brake? It's there. And the suspension even works, and the steering wheel is just like a Tesla. That's his hobby! A lot of people watch TV at home, a lot of people saw something in wood, a lot of people play computer games on consoles. And Anton builds cars. It's a wonderful hobby. It may even help our car industry. There is a battery charger in there, by the way. I wonder what the maximum speed is. Let's give it a try. Here we go! Not bad, not bad, it accelerates, but it doesn't brake. I don't want 150 kilometres an hour, I wouldn't like that, I want it slower. This car, as Anton said, is half assembled. There is a lot to do. I wonder how many revolutions it makes. The wheels are small, and the car turns like a tank on the spot. We're turning now in two parking spaces. This is cool! You can even let go of the steering wheel. Have you seen it? The Tesla can't do that. That's cool. We're driving a nice, homemade car that's comfortable to be in. You know, when you want to sit in a car with a phone and hang out. In this car you can sit with pleasure and comfort. A man is running outside the window. And this way you can sit in the car in comfort and not even be ashamed. Here we go. So you've got to put the steering wheel back. One, back and neutral. I think that's it. It's fun! - Nice!
- Yes? - You know, I got to be honest with you. It's a homemade car by any measure. But you get in and you're not ashamed. - With soul! - And it feels good, you sit quietly, and you feel comfortable. And there is no desire to quickly leave after a ride. - How did you get two hands out? Doesn't her steering wheel come back at those speeds? - No.
- I haven't gone out for a camber yet, that's probably why . - I turned it all the way out, let it go and it stayed in the same place. - I haven't done the convergence on the wheels yet, so I still need to work on it. - Most interesting. How much money has been invested in this car? - At the moment, $5000 for parts alone, and I don't count my time spent. - Inexpensive! - I take into account all the elements that you see in front of you the whole construction, including wheels, motors, body and everything else. - And the wheels from a Jaguar for $40.
- Yes, $40 each. - Tell us about your experiences as someone who's
who's delved into the basics of the car industry. If such a car were to appear on the assembly line, how much could it cost? - I think it could go for $4000.
- $4000 for a car? - Yes! The same quality, with a different design, with a plastic
lightweight body. In fact, the body is very expensive for me. - Because the body panels are expensive. For $4000 I think it can be done. - Do you think people will buy it like that? Who would be able to drive it? Who would be interested in such a car? - I think that people who live somewhere in the city, use the car for small movements, either to the store or to work. That is, with mileage up to 100 km a day. Calmly be able to use the car and do not have to look around the city to recharge it. Because this is really a big problem right now. You can buy an electric car and many want to do it, but a large number of our population lives in apartments and with charging is a big enough problem. You can watch videos from many bloggers and see how something doesn't work, or it's busy, or something else. And in this case you can drive 150 kilometers purely on the power of the sun. So you just drive up, stand in the parking lot, and your car is charged. - So you're already talking about cars with solar panels on the roof? - Yes, of course. The idea is that it's possible to get solar energy from the sun and recharge. So you go to the store, put the car in the parking lot, and in that time it's charged for the trip home. Now there is a big problem with chargers, I want to solve this problem. - $4000? Do you believe in it? Is it realistic?
- In cost terms, yes, it is possible. - Thank you very much! Good luck to you! Let's see how it will go in the future, as there are still many questions, but some nice outlines are already visible. We are waiting for comments, and Anton will try to answer them. See you soon. Bye!
