When crazy ideas meet with true, unbridled creativity, interesting, if intriguing projects are being born. And the electric screwdriver-powered carbon fiber tricycle Simon Schmitz built is exactly the type of vehicles which stresses out how far the human imagination can stretch.
Though advertised as a “Rennsport” or Racing vehicle, I doubt it would be good for anything than short races, given the small capacity of the Bosch 14V electric tool. But believe it or not, it looks like Germany indeed has some screwdriver-based races…
One screwdriver full charge is good for some 4 miles (6 km), and thanks to the bicycle gearing, it can hurl the vehicle to 19 mph (30.5 km/h). Fact is, Schmitz’ idea of using a household screwdriver is simply brilliant, as is affordable and a solution which is easy to implement.
What’s harder is being able to produce a chassis which is both strong and light, as without such a frame, the whole feasibility game suddenly comes to a halt. Yet Schmitz and his crew managed to design and build a lightweight, sturdy structure from carbon fiber which tips the scale at only 9 lbs (4 kg), and it serves the racing purpose quite well.
Now, since this trike is a RS (Rennsport), commuting with it sounds like a bad idea. Taking a look at the riding position will quickly make you love bicycles and motorbikes even more than you do now. As wacky this whole business looks like, Schmitz’ Akkuschrauber (German for electric screwdriver) tricycle is an awesome piece of DIY engineering.
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