For the past 15 months, a team of engineers from the Duke University in North Carolina have been working on what they hope will be the world’s fastest electric monowheel. Dubbed EV360, it can reach speeds of more than 70 mph (112.6 kph).
The Duke Monowheel Team, currently comprised of Anuj Thakkar, Carlo Lindner, Ahmed Ahmed-Fouad, and Fran Romano, was supposed to have their first attempt at a new Guinness World Record in April. Plans got pushed back indefinitely because of the international health crisis, but the team kept on working on the monowheel, to prepare for whenever restrictions are lifted.
That moment is nearing, Anuj Thakkar, who is team leader, engineer and test driver, says in an interview with Interesting Engineering. Because the previous Guinness record for speed on a monowheel was set by a gas-powered one at 72.9 mph (117 kph), they need to do better.
The EV360 is powered by a motor rated for 11 kW continuous and 23 kW peak power, which delivers more than 70 mph (112.7 kph) in speed. The battery is small, so it will only go about 9 miles (14.4 km) at 20 mph (32 kph), but that’s on purpose because this thing is built for speed, not long-distance cruising.
Not that cruising is possible in it. Thakkar explains that the EV360 is very unstable and impossible to steer – in fact, there’s no steering to it at all. Until it hits 15 mph (24 kph), the rider stabilizes it and slightly corrects direction using his feet, which remain on the ground. Once it goes faster, you just have to “trust” it will keep that direction.
During testing, Thakkar had about 15 crashes, but not one of them was serious enough to sideline him or the project. He says he can anticipate a crash coming by dozens of seconds, because the monowheel starts wobbling, so he can either try and straighten it or brace for impact.
Of course, the monowheel has no functionality in real life, for these very reasons.
“We started the monowheel project as a way to apply the skills we gained in classes to a novel and challenging problem, and to build our practical experience,” Lindner explains to the same media outlet. “There is no handbook for how to build a monowheel; it calls for a lot of creativity, and that’s been a great way for us to learn.”
Whether they’ve learned enough to be able to set a new world record remains to be seen.
That moment is nearing, Anuj Thakkar, who is team leader, engineer and test driver, says in an interview with Interesting Engineering. Because the previous Guinness record for speed on a monowheel was set by a gas-powered one at 72.9 mph (117 kph), they need to do better.
The EV360 is powered by a motor rated for 11 kW continuous and 23 kW peak power, which delivers more than 70 mph (112.7 kph) in speed. The battery is small, so it will only go about 9 miles (14.4 km) at 20 mph (32 kph), but that’s on purpose because this thing is built for speed, not long-distance cruising.
Not that cruising is possible in it. Thakkar explains that the EV360 is very unstable and impossible to steer – in fact, there’s no steering to it at all. Until it hits 15 mph (24 kph), the rider stabilizes it and slightly corrects direction using his feet, which remain on the ground. Once it goes faster, you just have to “trust” it will keep that direction.
During testing, Thakkar had about 15 crashes, but not one of them was serious enough to sideline him or the project. He says he can anticipate a crash coming by dozens of seconds, because the monowheel starts wobbling, so he can either try and straighten it or brace for impact.
Of course, the monowheel has no functionality in real life, for these very reasons.
“We started the monowheel project as a way to apply the skills we gained in classes to a novel and challenging problem, and to build our practical experience,” Lindner explains to the same media outlet. “There is no handbook for how to build a monowheel; it calls for a lot of creativity, and that’s been a great way for us to learn.”
Whether they’ve learned enough to be able to set a new world record remains to be seen.