In the construction of our powered trike we will be using some of the engine components we’ve already developed, so the money needed here will be for the remaining parts and components plus some subsistence wages for the project duration to speed up project delivery time. This is a rough breakdown of anticipated costs:

Vehicle and testing

£500 – Second hand trike (for adaptation)

£150 – Sturmey Archer hub (5 speed)

£400 – Diving cylinder and regulator (for use in Phase 1 testing)

Engine parts and materials

£120 – HP 12V Sureflow water pump

£100 – 30m of 10mm copper tube (plus compression fittings)

£50 – Ceramic fibre insulation blanket

£200 – Gauges and instruments

£200 – Condenser

£50 – 12V Lithium Ion battery

£730 – Miscellaneous parts, components, fixings and unanticipated item costs

£500 – Workshop consumables (generator petrol, welding supplies, etc.)

£4000 – Subsistence wages costed at 100 days of labour @ £40/day

Total £7000

Note: The allowance for subsistence wages also acts as a budget ‘buffer’, allowing for an amount of out-sourced work, such as the machining of special parts, should this prove necessary. Obviously this won’t be available at the less-than-minimum-wage level that we’re allowing for ourselves, but our aim is to keep out-sourced work to an absolute minimum.

Assuming all goes to plan we will end up with a unique form of working, carbon-neutral engine, plus some genuinely useful performance data to inform future development.