Electric Power Wheelchairs: Highly Specialized Versions Can Cost Up To $30,000
Article by Quinlan Murray
If you are the active and agile type who prefers to move at your own speed, then it is recommended that you go in for the electric power wheelchair. A standard wheelchair can take up a lot of time while for transport wheelchairs; you will have to depend on someone else to move you around. These electric wheelchairs do not require much energy to operate and is convenient for most people using them. With the advent of technology the newer specialized versions of wheelchairs are becoming more advanced and yet more costly. The highly specialized wheelchairs which can be compared to cars can cost you up to ,000.
There are primarily four types of wheelchairs – standard, transport, lightweight and bariatric. It is very important that you choose the right wheelchair according to your needs so that it becomes useful for you. You can find wheelchairs which have rear wheels and wheelchairs which have mid wheels. The rear wheels version is sturdier than the others and moves much faster too. They can travel at a speed of 6 mph and even then remain steady without toppling over. This is a great advantage for all those people who are active by nature. The Drive Geo Power wheelchair is an example of this rear wheel drive which is extremely popular amongst those who work in fast paced work environments. The other two popular models are Pride Mobility and Drive Medical.
The mid wheel wheelchairs are more convenient for situations where you have to travel within a small apartment or a small workspace. These chairs are more compact and smaller in size with rear wheels which have a smaller turning radius. Examples of this type of wheelchair are the Golden Compass and Pride Jazzy Select. The downside of this wheelchair is that it is best suited for smooth and even surfaces, since they get stuck when moving over bumpy and uneven ground.
For people who travel frequently between home and work, a transport wheelchair is an option. They can be easily packed into the back of the automobile since they are lightweight and easy to carry around. Since these chairs are much lighter they are easy to lift and does not take more than two people to lift it into the car.
If you are looking for more information on electric power wheelchairs and other types of wheelchairs, you can visit easymedonline.com for picture and other details.
About the Author
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Question by FeEL100: Power Wheelchair/Car combo..?
Is it possible to integrate a power wheelchair into a car & operate the car just by using the joystick control of the power wheelchair? This is just a rough idea & I know it can be perfected.. I’m a handicap guy with just a usable left arm(right arm & both legs are paralyzed) so I was thinking if this whole idea is possible…
Maybe a similar product is already out there that I do not know of?
Please advise.. thx.
Best answer:
Answer by ya_vigilante
Anything is possible. With the right amount of engineering and cash that is. One quick question tho. When your hand is on the control, and you sneeze or cough, do you inadvertently mover the control? Or can you let go before sneezing/coughing? Now imagine you are driving on a busy street or highway when this occurs. See what I’m getting at? My brother is the same as you, except it’s his right arm is usable. He cannot control himself when he coughs. If he’s driving the chair and coughs, he pinballs around the room.
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I built a 4-grocery bag sized trailer for my dad and his wife for his Jazzy Power Chair for warm weather grocery shopping. The basket is an Elfa shelf system #3 sized basket. I machined the 3-axis hitch (roll, pitch and yaw or turn) and trailer draw bar out of 6061 aluminum with a steel eye rolling in a 1018 steel pitch axis rotation pin. The trailer hitches up using the smooth shank section and head of a cut down 5/8″ dia. bolt and it is retained with a 1/8″ dia. hair pin. The 14″ dia. semi-pneumatic ball bearing wheels were bought from McMaster-Carr. The basket is attached to the axle/draw bar unit with small hose clamps whose tails are turned downwards to insure the interior of the basket remained totally snag free.
Hello I am also a handicapped person using with manual wheelchair. I want to communicate for sharing information more about that please mail on my id onlinemailcity@yahoo.com. thanks Raghavan Prabhakar
interesting concept. My uncle (a paraplegic from polio) drove his 57 chevy with gas and brake mounted on the steering wheel, often citing the well known law “Keep BOTH hands on the steering wheel at all times.” before throwing both of his hands up to cover his face as though he were going to crash, even though he clearly was doing anything but crashing.
It seems to me to be possible, though you would need to work closely with an engineer to build and install you a failsafe system as opposed to trying to “design it yourself”. I would guess that to be the first major stumbling block—-the expense of the engineering—or maybe not.. As far as building the thing goes—you could not do any better than to get someone like Ben Heckendorn (use google) to design and build it, as ben has some experience working with modifications for the physically challenged, and a lot more experience making modifications that work right the first time. If Ben cannot do it, he has a hacker community full of loyal subjects whom might just take you on as a project themselves.
A plus bonus to getting the hardware hacking community to design your prosthetic automobile controls is they can do it cheaper than hiring someone, and since most of them believe in “open source”, they will probably want to do a complete write up of the install process to post online for anybody to copy freely (and for posterity.) so you will also be helping others in your same position.
Visit Ben Hecks site (google) and swing by hackaday.com and write a letter to each one explaining your situation and watch what happens.
Hardware hackers just love near impossible builds like the one you are suggesting. If I were you…..i would find a group of hardware hacking nuts and set them on the impossible task of designing and building you a failsafe system.
good luck!
Damn good idea!
You’ll need a switch to change from the chair to the car,preferably automatic like a computer part plug in.
Most disabled vehicles use captains chairs you would have to slide into, doesn’t sound like you.