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Trike
of the Future is Here
by Shannon Lee Mannion
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| Keihachi Ishikawa poses this riddle: What 150-pound vehicle consumes as
much energy as a kitchen toaster yet conveys a person effortlessly
with the speed of an automobile? |
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 ive
up? No wonder because Mr. Ishikawa owns the only one in the world.
He doesn’t have a name for it but suggests calling it the
Bike of the 21st Century. He challenges inventors and visionaries
everywhere to fabricate a similar vehicle. “I solved one engineering
problem a day for nine months using my knowledge of mechanical engineering,
electric engineering and power electronics,” he says. Then
he grins, “I surprised myself by building it.” |
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Mr. Ishikawa, 56, whose background is in mechanical engineering, owns
two other electric vehicles, including the prototype of the Bike
of the 21st Century and an electric mountain bike. He worked for
OCTranspo for 20 years as a diesel engine mechanic before he became
a self-employed inventor/engineer.
He has been interested in electric vehicles since he was a student
in Osaka, Japan when he realized the innate problems with internal
combustion engines, “They are about 25% efficient and the
rest goes out the tailpipe in emissions. Plus my trike is multipurpose:
it saves money, saves energy and saves the environment.” He
chose the tadpole configuration, two wheels in front, as opposed
to delta, one wheel in the rear, because of inherent stability at
higher speeds.
Current hybrids are pricey and even more expensive to custom-build,
“You need $25,000 plus the cost of a good vehicle,”
he says so he set about to build one that measures up to his cost-benefit
analysis. And, he smiles, “The beauty of mine is that it has
pedals so I can pedal home if I have to but mostly, I put my hand
on the joy sticks, sit back and enjoy. It’s like a video game
but this one actually moves.” |
| What gave you the
idea? |
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| Originally, I was making a vehicle for the Electrathon
(held annually in May by the Electric Vehicle Council of Ottawa
at Capital City Speedway.) New technology is emerging, let’s
use it. But I didn’t want to make something I only used once
a year. The cost/benefit isn’t there. |
| How is this vehicle extraordinary? |
| The frame is made of titanium which is light
and strong. It’s got joystick steering and homemade motor
controls. There is nothing ordinary about this. I had to be a welder,
a bike mechanic and an engineer to figure out how to mount things. |
| Most of what you used
are bicycle parts, but what other items have you used that may be
for other applications? |
| I tried to use existing parts but
if couldn’t get them, I modified existing parts. If I wasn’t
able to find the part, I made it. |
| What’s this?
(Pointing to a stainless steel cut-out of a butterfly, hinged in
the middle, mounted to the handlebars.) |
| That’s the artistic side of
my creation. It’s a contemporaneous tachometre. At 50 km,
it stays upright. |
| What if you have to
carry something, groceries, for instance? |
| I carried three bags of groceries
the other day. The plastic bag loops over the joy sticks. And I
have a compartment in the back where I carry drinks and snacks.
(This compartment, part of the stainless steel backrest, closes
with Velcro.) |
| What about safety? |
| I have two mirrors, a bell, and
a horn. There are two dead-man switches so if both hands come off
the controls, the trike stops. Each wheel has a brake on it. |
| What do other cyclists say about
your trike? |
| A whole bunch of guys on bikes were
rushing home on the bike path the other day and I passed them. They
were surprised and said I’m cheating but as far as I’m
concerned, this (brain power) is more important than this (leg muscles).
I zoom by those kings of the road. |
| If you were going to modify this
vehicle, what would you do? |
| I wouldn’t change a thing. |
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