Ellenator

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Ellenator based on a Seat

The Ellenator is a passenger car that has been converted in such a way that, despite its four wheels, it is classified as a three-wheeled vehicle in EC vehicle class L5e. In combination with throttling the engine power to 15 kW, it can be driven by young people aged 16 and over with an A1 driving license. This makes it particularly interesting for young people. Its developer is the master mechanic Wenzeslaus "Wenzel" Ellenrieder from Dösingen .

Legal situation

On January 19, 2013 the driving license class A1 was extended to include three-wheel vehicles. This offered the opportunity to drive three-wheeled vehicles of the EC vehicle class L5e with a maximum of 15 kW with this driving license from the age of 16. In contrast to the EC vehicle class L7e for four-wheeled vehicles, there is no weight limit for three-wheeled vehicles. Directive 2002/24 / EC defines double wheels, which are legally regarded as one wheel, as "two wheels mounted on an axle, where the distance between the centers of the tire contact areas on the road is less than 460 mm."

The Ellenator can also be driven with a class 1b, 3 or B driving license, provided that it was acquired before January 19, 2013. The same applies to the old class 4 driving license if it was acquired before April 1, 1980.

development

Ellenrieder wanted to develop a vehicle for his 16-year-old son that was safer than a motorcycle or a light vehicle. “Such a real car is much safer than these puny light vehicles or a two-wheeler,” says Ellenrieder.

The vehicle was initially based on vehicles from the VW Group's PQ24 platform ( Seat Ibiza , Škoda Fabia and VW Polo ), and since 2017 only on the Fiat 500 . The output of the 1.0 and 1.2 liter gasoline engines is limited to 15 kW (20 hp) via an electronic control system. This reduces the maximum speed to around 90 km / h, which means that the use of motorways and motorways is still permitted.

During the conversion, the rear axle is removed and a new wheel arch welded in the middle of the trunk . Only a single wheel was used in initial attempts. However, this led to an unacceptably high wheel load. In addition, the lack of a wheel led to problems with the ABS signal for the engine control unit. Two 14-inch wheels were then attached to the existing axle mounting points as double wheels with a track width of less than 460 mm using a rear wheel swing arm specially developed for this purpose . The shock absorber and spring mounts on the vehicle continue to be used unchanged. The outer rear wheel arches are clad with sheet metal like a streamlined vehicle. Seen at an angle from the side, the stern looks like it is floating in the air. Regardless of this, the car stands on two wheels, which are so close together that they are considered to be just one wheel under traffic law.

A patent application has been filed for the conversion principle (EP2899103A2).

The design principle is reminiscent of the BMW Isetta from the 1950s. The first model used by Ellenrieder was a Seat. Since 2015, the models have been converted in series and sold with street approval.

Equipment, payload

The Ellenator can carry up to four people, but the maximum load is limited to 300 kg. Similar to its base vehicle, it has safety equipment such as ABS , ESP and airbags . Comfort features such as radio, navigation system or air conditioning are also adopted from the original vehicle .

Trivia

The panels on the rear wheels of Ellenator acts in representation of the Focus visually a bit like the limited edition of 200 pieces one-liter diesel XL1 VW and reminds simultaneously to a "inverted" Reliant Robin .

Web links

Commons : Ellenator  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Official Journal of the European Union. DIRECTIVE 2006/126 / EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL (PDF) Small motorcycles (class AM).
  2. ↑ Directive 2002/24 / EC of the European Parliament and of the Council Article 1 Paragraphs (1) and (2), definition of two-wheel or three-wheel motor vehicles (March 18, 2002).
  3. ↑ Directive 2002/24 / EC Art. 2 No. 8. (PDF)
  4. ↑ Matthias Moetsch: Conversion trick Ellenator: Seat Ibiza as a tricycle - drive a car at the age of 16. In: autobild.de. June 24, 2015, accessed January 3, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Drive the correct car from 16 , auto-news.de (August 4, 2015)
  6. ↑ Tricycle for the youngsters - Seat Ibiza and Skoda Fabia as Ellenatoren , pkw.de, June 23, 2015.
  7. ↑ Wenzeslaus Ellenrieder: Procedure for converting four-wheeled vehicles . EP2899103A2, July 29, 2015 ( dpma.de [accessed January 3, 2018]).
  8. ↑ The Ellenator: Seat Ibiza and Co. as a "tricycle" , auto-medienportal.net, July 13, 2015.
  9. ↑ Wolfgang Becker: "Tricycle" of a special kind , Kreisbote , March 28, 2015.
  10. ↑ Steffen Guthardt: With the tricycle in the training company , deutsche-handwerks-zeitung.de, December 15, 2016.
  11. ↑ Sebastian Viehmann: Completely crazy! This car is giving Seat designers sleepless nights , Focus Online June 8, 2015.