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This one-seater urban car is basically a rubber egg on wheels.
The egg-shell is an airbag that is kept under a constant pressure while the car moves. In case of an accident, the entire drivers cabin acts as an airbag.
1. This is an electro-pneumatic car; as in ordinary electric cars, when you brake,
you can recover some energy back into the battery. We do the same, but with air. The air gets compressed and stored in a small tank. This air then keeps the egg-shell under pressure, so that it is rigid.
We always keep a reserve of compressed air in the tank, though.
2. In case of an accident, the entire eggshell inflates like an airbag. Even though this car is very light-weight, and you will be thrown into the air in case of an accident, you will simply bounce to the ground safely after a while.
3. Advanced inflatable fabrics exist that are stronger than steel! [See link].
4. The advantage of this car is that it is basically a shell on a chassis. The shell is almost entirely independent from it, and just rides on it (attached to it with clips, like ski-boots on skis). This chassis can be therefor be foled up, the inflatable shell, deflated, and the car parked taking up a very small space.
I made two very rough sketches of it [see links]; the small windows still have to be put in it. But they would pop-out in case of an accident, as the egg inflates.
(?) Advanced military engineered inflatables
http://www.armedfor...red-inflatables.asp
They are advanced! [django, Nov 02 2006]
(?) The egg car
http://i3.photobuck...iddiesel/eggcar.jpg
Driving mode [django, Nov 02 2006]
(?) The egg car
http://i3.photobuck...esel/eggcarfold.jpg
Parking mode, fold me up [django, Nov 02 2006]
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Annotation:
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Uh, how the hell do you see the road? |
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//you will be thrown into the air in case of an accident, you will simply bounce to the ground safely after a while.// Quite a long while if you were T-boned and "bounced" over a cliff. |
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I had just added that the windows still have to be added to the pic - while you were posting your question :-) |
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So there would be small windows in the shell, that would pop-out as the egg inflates in case of an accident. |
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Phew, I thought I was going insane! |
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The Zorb-car. Neat. I would keep it inflated even in regular traffic. Parking would be a snap. My idea was to have all town cars replaced with carnival bumper cars, but this is even better. Bun. |
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This wouldn't be good to drive on a windy day. |
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...and he called them sketches. |
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