Tadpole Configuration for Three Wheeled Vehicles

With the increasing adoption of electric vehicles in India, autos are also getting in the electrification race with lighter lithium-ion batteries and motor replacing the bulkier engine and transmission. This trend has led to a lighter vehicle which in-turn gives better mileage figures but at the loss of dynamic stability of the vehicle making them very unsafe. The current auto-rickshaws are using delta configuration that is more prone to the rollover while cornering. The three-wheeled configuration vehicle is less dynamically stable than the normal four-wheeled configurations.

While working on prototype vehicle for Shell Eco-Marathon Asia [7] pro and cons for both configurations for a three-wheeled vehicle were considered and tadpole configuration was found to be more stable and better than current delta configuration. The most common scenario that can happen with these vehicles in rural India is that the driver negotiates a corner with high speed and the Auto-rickshaw overloaded with passengers. The vehicle at this point is highly prone to the rollover with the delta configuration. Tadpole configuration has better cornering stability with both front wheels offer resistance to the cornering forces.

The objective of the paper is to leverage the tadpole design for the three-wheeled vehicle to have better dynamics stability and safety for the vehicles along with improved fuel economy and driving characteristics and later incorporate the same in the commercial vehicles.