Replace cars with velomobiles
Replace cars with velomobiles
About a quarter of the existent wind turbines would suffice to power as many electric velomobiles as there are people.
Speed record of a velomobile: 144 km/h https://www.aerovelo.com/eta-speedbike
We don't need any knew infrastructure, we just need to get cars out of the way
Is there open source designs for this?
Do they make some for hauling things (say a weeks with of groceries for a family of 4 or several sheets of drywall)?
The idea of needing specialized transport as an individual beyond just walking is a failure of society. Replacing cars with "not-cars" isn't really helping that aspect. You should be structuring society so that cars or "not-cars" have no need to exist for almost everyone.
The transition needs to be easy for adoption to happen though. I think first replacing cars with not-cars, and only then scaling cities to be more walkable makes sense.
the biomass powered motor, also known as the driver
okay that's funny
I feel there's probably some reasons they haven't become popular.
-
Don't turn as nimbly as a bike
-
Can't put them on your shoulder and carry them indoors, onto a train, etc. like as a bike
-
Don't climb hills as well as a bike (source)
-
20× the cost of a bike, maybe that could be brought down by economies of scale if they were more popular
I could imagine a velomobile being preferable if you're commuting from a satellite town to the city, and the journey consists of a long straight road.
I'd definitely say they're worse for getting around the city, and their comparative advantages are bought at the price of significant extra overhead.
-
Velomobiles are neat but the idea is more practically executed in something like the Electrom LEV
If I lived in a city, I’d love one of those! I live right out in the sticks, and it’s worrying enough meeting a big vehicle down the lanes on a bike, so being wider and lower is terrifying. I had a go on a recumbent bike a while ago, and would have bought it if it weren’t for the feeling of permanently being about to be squashed by a kid in a tractor. An electric-assisted recumbent trike that looks like a spaceship, and has room for some shopping would be mint anywhere else though!
Both the velomobile and the electric bicycle increase the limited range of the cyclist – the former optimises aerodynamics and ergonomics, while the latter assists muscle power with an electric motor fuelled by a battery.
The electric velomobile combines both approaches, and so maximises the range of the cyclist – so much so that it is able to replace most, if not all, automobile trips.
Why aren't we all driving around in these things?
I looked into getting one of those. Turns out it was cheaper to buy several used cars than getting a second hand bike like this. I'm not spending €9900 on a banana moped when you can get a Citroën Ami for not that much more.
These velomobiles are unwieldy to ship and produced in small quantities, often by specialist companies. They're also difficult to see in traffic, even for other bikes; for visibility, velomobiles are required to have a little flag at eye height on them, but the people spending 10k on these things don't seem to care much about this law.
They're not fast enough to join main roads at normal speeds, but dangerously fast for bike paths. The people in them have to either pull dangerous manoeuvres to overtake people, or constantly brake and accelerate. I don't think you get regenerative breaking for those things. They also can't take sharp corners that you'll find in some bike paths.
I'm not opposed to them, but they need to gain popularity to drive down the price before they'll work, and even then they require infrastructure changes.
This comment is rational.
For those inter-city bike lanes like you see in some parts of France they would be great.
Because both Cars i own were cheaper than buying one of those, atleast where iam. I quite literally can't afford one.
I wished we would just tax the environment destroying vehicles to subsidize these velomobils. Another idea would be to include them in car-sharing offerings. I don't need to own one, but I would love to rent it once in a while.
They don't sell them in "hide my insecurities" sizes.
In Sweden people generally dont drive around in dinosaur-sized car, but they have been increasing lately. Yesterday I had my first personal experience of how much of an issue they are. I was in line for a left-turn in a crossing and noticed that the last car from the opposite side was also gonna turn left. The 2 cars in front of me already crossed the road and head left, i drive forward just a moment later than the huge RAM from the other side and notice a Nissan Micra that is heading straight towards me instead of turning. It was completely hidden behind the monster car and neither me nor the drivers in front of me in my lane had noticed it. Cars of that size not only endanger pedestrians by not seeing them but also obscure general traffic scenarios. They should not be allowed on the street tbh..
At what point is it just a car pretending to be a bike? You can't take a velomobile inside with you, so you'll need a parking lot. They can't take tight corners like bikes, skateboards, scooters, or other methods of personal transportation.