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EvaCar
Evacuation Car, for when you just have to get away from it all ... and quickly. | |
In some areas, due mainly to meteorological phenomena such as flooding or hurricanes, it becomes necessary to evacuate threatened areas.
The TV shows streams of vehicles packed onto major and minor routes to designated "refuge" areas.
On arriving at such areas, the evacuees need to be provided
with shelter, food, water and sometimes medical care. And somewhere to park their vehicles.
We propose that in designated areas, residents can lease, for an affordable fee, an "Evacuation Car".
The Evacuation Car has a very simple chassis and suspension, and a very simple low-power air cooled engine with a backup crank or recoil starter. The bodywork is built of heavy duty epoxy coated plywood; the windscreen is perspex or polycarbonate. The seats are basic. The instruments are very basic. Resembling a plywood replica of a cross between an early Land Rover, a VW Campervan and a Citroen 2CV, it is a deeply unattractive boxy vehicle.
However, it is designed with evacuation in mind. Despite being slow, it has good cargo capability, and carries a minimum of six adults. The seats are removeable and can be folded out into chairs. Body panels unclip and/or hinge to form a shelter. In the cargo area is prepackaged food and water. The engine can drive a small generator or provide heating. Everything about it is multi-use, reuseable, recyclable - a small tool kit is provided. The vehicle converts in less than an hour to a semi-autonomous dwelling capable of sheltering and nourishing its occupants for 72 hours, and can be converted back in a similar time..
Some residents may elect to store their EvaCar adjacent to their residence if they have space; others may elect to have them stored in a secure parking facility close to their homes.
Driving an EvaCar on a public highway without proper authority at a time other than when an evacuation order is in force would be an offence.
Africar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africar
Similar [8th of 7, Jun 29 2010]
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Annotation:
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I can't think of too many mass evacuation scenarios where I'd want to be caught in the rat-race in a slow lumbering vehicle. |
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Zombies run fast, y'know. |
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....So I propose the Eva-Tank. I'll start saving for the deposit. |
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I think [8th] is figuring that even at 40mph, he'll be a fair piece down the turnpike before everybody else finishes throwing all their necessaries in the back of their SUVs. |
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Why plywood? Why not just make the bodywork from
plastic? |
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I gotta say, I don't like the idea of having a huge stock of crappy cars sitting around unused. Not only does that take up space and resources but they will probably be in disrepair when there is a disaster. On the other hand if you don't keep tons of them in stock then what good do they do? Maybe a few people have them; it would be easier if everybody would just keep their gas tank filled during hurricane season and an evacuation bag in their trunk. |
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As for the general idea of a 'perfect evacuation vehicle', many enthusiasts like to build such all purpose vehicles based on Unimogs. |
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"The seats are removeable and can be folded out into chairs."
So the seats become...seats? Brilliant! |
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How long do you think it would be before GM began selling the Humm-Eva? After all, if you're going to evacuate, don't do it like a pussy. |
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It seems as though the idea is a vehicle that would
be kept in storage for a long time, perhaps years
or decades, then quickly put into service to
escape some calamity that would make
conventional vehicles impractical, yet would haul
an impressive amount of people and/or supplies. |
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Vehicles in storage tend to deteriorate, but there
are strategies to slow the rate of deterioration:
use of the product Stabil in the fuel tank and
storing the vehicle in a nitrogen-filled plastic bag,
for example. It would help if the vehicle folded up,
to take less space during storage. Still, it's not
going to be reliable after being stored for a long
time, and may take a day or so, or longer, to get it
running. |
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Or, simply buy a vehicle that gets good fuel
economy and yet can haul a lot of people and
stuff: they're called "minivans." Keep it in good
tune and always have the fuel tank at least half
full. Some do have removable seats. |
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I'm not sold on this one, [8th]. In a recent flood near
my home, one of the survival stories was quite
extraordinary: |
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A woman awoke at about 1am to the gurgling sound of
floodwater passing through her house. She opened the
door to see what was happening and was swept across
her front yard, over a couple of fences and into a tree
about 400m from her home. |
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She found she was sharing the tree with a large,
venomous snake, so she moved as far as possible from
it, in the tree. |
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By sheer good fortune, she found she was very close to
an emergency lighting beacon that had washed off a
river weir about 5km away and lodged in the tree next
to her. |
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The crew of a rescue helicopter, investigating the
flashing light of the beacon, spotted her in the next
tree and winched her to safety. |
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After sunrise, another 1200 helicopter rescues were
performed in her area, with a further 2000 people
rescued by boat and surf lifesaving dinghy crews. |
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Since then, as waters have subsided, some 500 pigs
from a local piggery that was swamped, have also been
rescued from the branches of trees in the same stand
of timber that saved her life. |
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I'm not sure what your rickety plywood cars would
achieve in a flood of that nature? |
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Like I said... Lipstick on a pig. |
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