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Hardware — The Real-World Trike

Status: [HYPOTHESIS] — actively planning. No vehicle has been purchased, tested, or piloted. First documented 2026-05-17. Lead: Kevin Crump. Everything below is a planning artifact derived from secondary research, pending verification against manufacturer documentation and physical testing.

The real-world Trike is the physical counterpart to the in-game Trike + Pilot mechanic: a mobile, solar-powered extension of a Kitchen Garage that travels to partner sites in Charleston, WV, serves food (and adjacent services like device charging and Wi-Fi), and returns. It is designed solar-first and GoSun-inspired (passive solar concentration + efficient thermal mass), per the Sustainability directive — the design intent is carbon-neutral mobile food prep; the outcome is [HYPOTHESIS] until measured in a pilot.

Why a mobile trike at all

The hypothesis is that a mobile vehicle solves constraints a fixed building does not — reaching mobility-limited recipients, maintaining visibility across neighborhoods on a rotating schedule, sidestepping the capital cost and zoning friction of a permanent facility, and adding ancillary services per touchpoint. These benefits are theoretical until tested with real deployments.

Candidate vehicles

Three candidate paths surfaced in initial research. None has been chosen.

1. GoSun Gopher (commercial solar e-cargo bike)

A turnkey-ish solar e-cargo bike: ~650W integrated panels, 2.5–4 kWh/day solar, 2,400W continuous / 4,800W peak AC, fold-down cargo panels that double as service counters, e-bike (Class III, 28 mph) classification. Reported specs are [HYPOTHESIS] reproduced from a secondary source, not verified against a manufacturer spec sheet. Must verify before relying on it: the spec sheet directly from GoSun; whether it actually ships or remains pre-order; whether 2,400W continuous handles a multi-hour serving load; real grade performance on Charleston hills under full load; whether commercial/nonprofit food service triggers requirements personal-use e-bike rules do not; and cargo dimensions vs. real equipment.

A detailed business + grant plan exploring this path is the Charleston Pilot — itself [HYPOTHESIS].

2. DIY cargo-trike build at the makerspace

Source a used electric cargo trike (~$1,500 chassis-only estimate, [HYPOTHESIS]), fabricate a solar canopy, mount an EcoFlow-class battery, build the service surface. The build process is itself a Toaster Chef story — the vehicle that runs the program built by the people the program serves — and could become a curriculum artifact at the Boot Up makerspace. Must verify: chassis availability at the assumed price, makerspace tooling/labor, inspection clearance for a custom build, realistic total cost including labor, and WV-climate durability.

3. Electric golf cart / UTV + solar canopy

For semi-permanent siting at a single partner location (school, recovery center, makerspace courtyard) rather than street pop-ups. Trades mobility for cargo capacity and weather protection — probably right for a tethered site, wrong for a true mobile route. Must verify: whether the deployment actually requires mobility, used-vehicle availability/price, and whether private-grounds operation avoids the street-going licensing questions.

Known unknowns

A gap honestly named is more valuable than a confident answer that is wrong. The major open questions: GoSun spec accuracy and ship date; real grade performance under load; WV mobile-food-service permitting (separate from vehicle licensing and likely the dominant constraint); insurance reality for nonprofit operation; actual serving-equipment power draw; battery life under serving load + return trip; loaded cargo capacity; theft/vandalism risk; year-round weatherproofing; whether the intended recipients actually want this format (no user research done yet); cost-per-meal vs. a fixed Kitchen Garage; and pilot/driver training and qualification.

Disconfirming considerations

Per the Epistemic Honesty directive's "seek disconfirming evidence" rule, the strongest counter-arguments:

  • A fixed Kitchen Garage may be more impactful per dollar — visibility is not the same as impact.
  • Permitting may be a hard blocker, not a friction; if WV requires a permitted commissary, the trike is an extension of a fixed kitchen, not a standalone one.
  • The e-bike-classification advantage may evaporate under commercial use.
  • Solar capacity (a daily total) may not match short, heavy serving-window draws.
  • The vehicle may not be the bottleneck — trained Pilots, a permitted commissary, food sourcing, outreach, and partner agreements may matter more.
  • The GoSun Gopher may not ship — pre-order hardware in this category has a track record of delay.

None of these defeats the concept; they are the questions to answer honestly before money is spent.

Path to validation

In rough order: [EXPERT REVIEWED] permitting and insurance conversations (documented) → verified vehicle specs → a grade-and-load test → one live pilot event serving real people (moves the concept from [HYPOTHESIS] to [PILOT VALIDATED]) → repeated deployments across seasons and sites (toward [EMPIRICALLY VALIDATED]).

Cross-project connections

  • Boot Up — the DIY makerspace build path overlaps with Boot Up's makerspace and curriculum; a trike-build module is a natural fit if path 2 is pursued.
  • MPowerUP — a deployed trike is a natural distribution point for MPowerUP onboarding (preconfigured devices, in-person Circle invites). Future integration once both exist.
  • Simulation — real-world deployment data (battery life, serving cadence, cost per meal, recipient response) feeds back into the simulation's calibration as [PILOT VALIDATED] data points.