h a l f b a k e r yPoof of concept
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Most people who go to work in their own cars, go alone and
come back alone. Why use 4/5 seater cars for this purpose
then ?
Introduce fully covered go-kart cars for masses in addition
to their 4-seater cars. These can be made more
aerodynamic than go-karts by reducing height. Since most
of
the resistance cars face at high speed is from air and
not road/bearings, these cars will give more mileage than
a motor-bike. I think they will be able to give 4-5 times
the mileage than that of a sedan.
These will much lighter. There will be less wear and tear of
roads, much less pollution, much less noise.
These cars will be able to carry one person and a small
luggage, like briefcase. Unlike go-karts these will be fully
covered with some lightweight material.
Noddy
http://www.google.c...3Dg&ved=0CCIQ9QEwAA
[po, Dec 24 2010]
Such an ingenious idea...
http://en.wikipedia...File:SinclairC5.jpg
... it's been baked already. [pocmloc, Dec 24 2010]
http://www.egmcarte...al-car-gets-70-mpg/
[2 fries shy of a happy meal, Dec 24 2010]
Micro Car Museum
http://microcarmuse...om/virtualtour.html
click 'start tour' [afinehowdoyoudo, Dec 24 2010]
Velocar H
http://microcarmuse...tour/velocar-h.html
I lol'd [afinehowdoyoudo, Dec 24 2010]
The ACREA Zest roadster
http://www.qdoscars.co.uk/zest.htm
Getting there! [pocmloc, Dec 26 2010]
The Ariel Atom
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_Atom
It's not a road car - but it's very nippy. [Jinbish, Dec 26 2010]
Sinclair C5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_C5
Not so nippy [Jinbish, Dec 26 2010]
messerschmitt
http://paperseed.wo...of-a-messerschmitt/
I remember seeing one of these in the movie Brazil [jaksplat, Dec 27 2010]
A single seat car, in production now.
http://www.peelengineering.co.uk/
Baked to a crisp [Twizz, Jun 21 2011]
Ok, got it..
http://en.wikipedia...kswagen_1-litre_car
$500 (made in china) car ? ( No, it is not) [VJW, Jun 21 2011]
Microcar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcar
[VJW, Jun 22 2011]
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Annotation:
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Can you say FMVSS, SAE, DOT? How about SOB's
in SUV's? |
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[po], I believe Noddy’s car is a 2-seater. |
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bubble cars were 2-seaters (I've sat in one as a passenger) but Noddy's doesn't look as if he has room. racing cars are for one! |
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There are a few single-seater kit cars on the market. |
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unfortunately a lot of people are fat and lazy and want to drive an SUV incase they have the sudden need to go offroading on the commute home. |
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not to mention emergency picking up kids from school, grabbing groceries on the way home, bad weather. |
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This is the same argument against electric cars, they couldn't replace a gas car in all situations hence the capital purchase is less than the cost savings. |
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There's a few neighborhoods in florida that are "golf cart only" on the premises so you park your cars at the garage and cart around the neighborhood. |
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You'd have to make it street legal. [link] |
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You can dodge the impossible paperwork if you make
it (technically) a bicycle.. around these parts thats a
max width of 38 inches and up to three wheels.
You're even allowed up to 500 watts of electric motor
on one
wheel. |
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// 500 watts of electric motor on one wheel // |
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Yeah, well, like that's going to be first past the post in the Le Mans 24-hr any day now ..... |
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I think making it street legal could be toughest part
since such cars will be less noticeable to other cars.
However if every one is using such cars, then it
would be different story. |
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Bubble cars/other micro cars are not sufficiently
aerodynamic. They are too tall. |
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The cars in question would be modeled probably like
race cars. |
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You can make the paperwork slightly less onerous by making the vehicle (technically) a motorbike - you will still need engineering certs and so forth, but they are much more relaxed than those for a car. Around here, "motorcycle" includes vehicles with three wheels, roll cages and proper motors. |
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The bicycle class is restricted to a 200W electric motor, or a 48cc (IIRC) internal combustion engine, which can easily provide a kilowatt of power, making the measly 200W electric restriction look even more ridiculous and arbitrary than it does on its own. |
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The problem is not creating this, it's been widely
considered, the problem is making it cheap
enough
that it makes economic sense to acquire one as a
second vehicle. That means minimal parts, high
production, and sane insurance regulations. |
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There is an alternative where it becomes the
primary car in combination with a car sharing
model that provides heavier vehicles for longer
distance travel or hauling. I'm not sure anyone's
pursued that approach. |
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You would need an enlightened, rational government. |
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//Why use 4/5 seater cars for this purpose then ?// |
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Why not just remove the offending seats? |
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The purpose of a car is to move large or heavy objects around unless you're disabled. A single-seater car wouldn't do that. |
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nonsense. A car has many purposes, some of which
would be well-met by a single-seater. |
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I thought the purpose of a car was to terrorise lesser road users (e.g. pedestrians, horse riders, cyclists) off the road. A single-seat car could do this, though less effectively. |
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In another sense, the purpose of a car is to enable concerns in the motor industry to make a profit. |
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It seems VW has come up with a $600 single seater made-in-china car. Hoax ? |
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yes. What makes you think it isn't ? |
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My car often has one seat - well, one avaliable seat. The rest are covered with stuff. Stuff on way to new house. Stuff on way back from shop. Stuff because I havn't been bothered to put it elsewhere... |
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//What makes you think it isn't// |
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videos look convincing... |
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In past chinese have come up with products that cost 1 % of european price. |
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bet it didn't have the VW name on it. That of course is one of the VW "1L" cars or summat. I don't think you could get one of the tyres for $600. |
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The current VW 1l car is the XL1, it was shown at the Qatar auto show this year. With a carbon monoqoque body, it's not going to cost $600. They are talking about putting it into production, however, which should, at worst, put it in the range of a moderate luxury car. |
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It's a (almost) side-by-side two seater however, with the fuel economy coming from streamlining and light-weight construction. |
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The purpose of the car is to get me to work, where I design cars... |
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The movie Brazil is so very close! |
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It seems it is common among microcars to achieve 100 mpg.; |
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And most of microcars, IMO, can be made more aerodynamic i.e. with smaller Cd. |
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"The purpose of the car is to get me to work, where I design cars..." |
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I travel to work on a bike that cost under £5k to design cars that cost over £1M and perform only slightly better than my bike. |
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It does occur to me that the very small car is not so popular as it might be for many of the 'wrong' reasons. Many people don't want to be in a 250kg micro car, sharing the road with larger, heavier vehicles. While people still believe that big, heavy cars are safer, they'll keep buying bigger and heavier. |
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While the car-buying public doesn't understand the balance of risks involved, the vehicle 'arms race' will continue. |
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It will require legislation to limit the weight of private cars and even then, there will be a perception that people will die because the law prevented them from driving a 3 ton behemoth. |
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I would love to bike around more or maybe use a motor scooter but I just don't know what the hell I'd do about rain, and I'm worried my long pants would get cought in bike gears |
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anyway forget all that, there's walking and mass transit. We've got plenty of trains here in NY/NJ, and half of all the living units are in downtown areas. I think I'm going to move to Hackensack eventually and will enjoy using the train and walking everywhere. I've already started using the train to get into NYC |
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