As announced previously, Jono Keene and Gerard De La Rue (formerly of Woodleigh College) were up for the challenge of weighing as many vehicles as they could at this year’s RACV Energy Breakthrough. Stationed on Thursday and Friday between Scrutineering and Design & Construction, the lads were able to collect the weights of all the Human Powered Vehicles as they made their way through the process. Then late on Friday they headed to the Holden Track to weigh the Energy Efficient Vehicles too.

Here’s what they found:

Total Weight:

They weighed 241 vehicles, which added up to a total of 8393.7kg!

Lightest and Heaviest Vehicles:

The lightest HPV, vehicle ’59’ came in at 23.9kg. (Pictured above left)
Of the EEVs that were weighed, the lightest came in at 41.6 kg.

The heaviest HPV was vehicle ’96’, weighing in at 53.5kg. (Pictured above right)
Of the EEVs that were weighed, the heaviest weighed in at 111.1kg.

Mean Weights

The mean weight over all the HPV categories was 32.5kg
Of the EEVs weighed, the mean weight was 66.1kg.

A few reflections from Jono and Gerard…

Jono and Gerard  “We found that the lightest configuration is core-flute head out. Keep in mind this low weight does come at the cost of the vehicles aerodynamics.”

The lightest head in trikes were also core-flute.

The advantages of having a light vehicle are numerous. Low weight = faster speeds, less energy to accelerate the vehicle, better cornering. Less weight = less material = less waste.

There are also safety benefits. A lighter vehicle stops quicker and does less damage in a crash.

The 8tonne challenge!

If we put all the vehicles in a pile on some enormous scales, all the trikes would weigh a total 8.4tonnes. Next year we want to be below the 8tonnne mark. This means that all teams need to lose 1.7kg off their current vehicles.

Things to consider for next year to help get below 8tonnes…

  • Core-flute seems to be lightest material.
  • Do you need a checker plate floor?
  • Do you have excess bolt length?
  • Are UHF Radios necessary?
  • Is your vehicle carrying dead space? I.e. is it bigger than it needs to be?
  • Excess tape
  • Do you really need that great looking decorative lighting?

Remember, you are pedaling whatever you put on or in the trike from 16hrs up to 24Hrs. 



Stay Light.

Download full table of weights: (.zip)

Download by category: (PDFs)