Low cost electric boosted covered seated bike.

Gas prices getting you down?  

I am working on an electric boosted, covered, one person seated bike.  Basically take a tandem frame style bike with a shell and add an electric motor.  Cover the bike for aerodynamics, safety, and to allow the bike to run in bad weather.

Design specification

Take one person, a book bag, and a couple of bags of groceries from home, to school, and then back home again.  Keep the person driving the bike from getting too hot or too cold, keep them dry, and be safe.  A 10 mile trip should take about a half an hour.

Aerodynamic

It is important that a design like this needs to be aerodynamic so that it will slip through the air with as little effort as possible, this allows you to use much smaller batteries and motors to maintain the speed you want. Design will have to incorporate a light weight carbon fiber shell that covers every part of the vehicle.  This shell would have to be very light weight, mostly just a single layer of carbon fiber, but with reinforcements in critical areas, and large enough windows to allow the person in the bike a clear field of view.

Insulated

About a half an inch inside the shell I would like to have a layer of silver bubble paper to reflect summer heat away from the person in the seat.  This stuff is very light weight and is great at reflecting heat.

Ventilation

There will have to be air vents that allow external air to flow through the compartment on hot days, these vents would have to be adjustable so that on colder days you can close the vents to keep the compartment warm.  The compartment has to be sealed tight enough so that the shell reinforces the frame, but enough air has to come in to keep the driver from suffocating.

Power

A small electric motor and small battery pack will supplement pedal power, not replace it.  Shouldn't even require a license plate, electric bikes that can only go 20mph don't need to be licensed.  You state laws will vary.  As you accelerate or go uphill the motor will boost the person pedalling to make it easier.  When you decelerate or go down hill the motor will brake the bike and recharge the battery.

If possible put a thin solar panel on top of the bike to recharge the battery as long as the sun is shining.  We will also be able to hook a small fan to force air through the cockpit to keep the person cool, and power that fan directly from the solar panel. The more intense the sun shine, the harder the fan will blow. 

No heater

A lightweight design with thin tires would just not be safe in the winter anyway.

Frame

The frame would have to also be a light weight welded aluminium with a heavy duty light weight floor that can handle a lot of abuse. Maybe put a thin wooden panel over the aluminium frame using construction adhesive, and then vacuum seal a carbon fiber layer on both sides of the frame, sandwiching the floor panel and frame inside a carbon fiber and epoxy shell. 

Phone Dock

Use power from the battery to recharge the phone and run a low power amp running a couple of speakers so you can listen to music or audio-blog as you ride around.  

Security

Because this bike is light enough to carry away then there has to be an external strong point to lock it to the end of a bike rack.  The compartment should also lock at a strong point.