Arduino Is on a Roll
The Batteryrunner is a handmade, street-legal electric car that is controlled by over ten Arduino boards for extreme hackability.
The pages of Hackster are filled with a wide variety of creations running the gamut from robots to home automation systems and software hacks. Even with all of this variety, it is rare to see a small team of hardware hackers go so far as to build a car — as in a drivable, street-legal vehicle, not a radio-controlled miniature. But that is exactly what a father and daughter duo in Spain recently did.
Charly, the owner of LORYC, which he describes as the smallest car factory in the world, has been hard at work with his daughter Leonie to build a very unique electric car called the Batteryrunner that looks something like a cross between a Tesla Cybertruck and a Hummer. Not only is this all-aluminum (and I do mean all-aluminum) two-seater handmade, but it is also powered by over ten Arduino development boards — a feature that the hobbyist community can really appreciate.
The choice of a very durable aluminum material and widely-available Arduino boards was about more than just the cool factor. This decision was made so that each component in the car can be individually replaced, keeping the vehicle on the road virtually forever. While this decision is certain to keep LORYC the world’s smallest automaker, it is something to admire as a consumer.
Every part of the Batteryrunner is a work of art, right down to the speedometer, which is an Arduino Nano-powered mechanical gauge built from — you guessed it, aluminum sheets. CAN bus modules also assist Arduino Mega 2560 and Arduino R4 boards in controlling everything from the dashboard to lights and blinkers. Arduinos also manage a 400-volt battery system and a Tesla drive unit.
Charly and Leonie have plans to continue upgrading the vehicle in the future. They are considering, for example, integrating an Arduino GIGA R1 WiFi and GIGA Display Shield into the build for an upgraded infotainment system. Some more advanced features, like automated parking, might also be in store for the Batteryrunner in the future.
Unlike a lot of maker projects, this one is more than just a prototype. The Batteryrunner is street-legal and has already been driven hundreds of miles across Europe. That may be one small step for a maker, but it’s one giant leap for makerkind.
R&D, creativity, and building the next big thing you never knew you wanted are my specialties.