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.-- VJW, Dec 24 2010 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.htmlclick 'start tour' [afinehowdoyoudo, Dec 24 2010] Velocar H http://microcarmuse...tour/velocar-h.htmlI lol'd [afinehowdoyoudo, Dec 24 2010] The ACREA Zest roadster http://www.qdoscars.co.uk/zest.htmGetting there! [pocmloc, Dec 26 2010] The Ariel Atom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_AtomIt's not a road car - but it's very nippy. [Jinbish, Dec 26 2010] Sinclair C5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_C5Not 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] Can you say FMVSS, SAE, DOT? How about SOB's in SUV's?-- afinehowdoyoudo, Dec 24 2010 [po], I believe Noddy’s car is a 2-seater.-- pocmloc, Dec 24 2010 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!-- po, Dec 24 2010 There are a few single-seater kit cars on the market.-- 8th of 7, Dec 24 2010 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.
not to mention emergency picking up kids from school, grabbing groceries on the way home, bad weather.
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.
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.
why not a bicycle?-- metarinka, Dec 24 2010 You'd have to make it street legal. [link]-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Dec 24 2010 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.-- afinehowdoyoudo, Dec 24 2010 // 500 watts of electric motor on one wheel //
Yeah, well, like that's going to be first past the post in the Le Mans 24-hr any day now .....-- 8th of 7, Dec 24 2010 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.
Bubble cars/other micro cars are not sufficiently aerodynamic. They are too tall.
The cars in question would be modeled probably like race cars.-- VJW, Dec 26 2010 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.
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.-- BunsenHoneydew, Dec 26 2010 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.
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.-- MechE, Dec 26 2010 You would need an enlightened, rational government.
<giggles>-- 8th of 7, Dec 26 2010 //Why use 4/5 seater cars for this purpose then ?//
Why not just remove the offending seats?-- MikeD, Dec 27 2010 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.-- nineteenthly, Dec 27 2010 nonsense. A car has many purposes, some of which would be well-met by a single-seater.-- afinehowdoyoudo, Dec 29 2010 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.-- pocmloc, Dec 29 2010 In another sense, the purpose of a car is to enable concerns in the motor industry to make a profit.-- nineteenthly, Jan 07 2011 It seems VW has come up with a $600 single seater made-in-china car. Hoax ?-- VJW, Jun 20 2011 yes. What makes you think it isn't ?-- FlyingToaster, Jun 20 2011 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...-- saedi, Jun 20 2011 //What makes you think it isn't//
videos look convincing...
In past chinese have come up with products that cost 1 % of european price.-- VJW, Jun 21 2011 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.-- FlyingToaster, Jun 21 2011 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.
It's a (almost) side-by-side two seater however, with the fuel economy coming from streamlining and light-weight construction.-- MechE, Jun 21 2011 The purpose of the car is to get me to work, where I design cars...-- RayfordSteele, Jun 21 2011 The movie Brazil is so very close!-- Zimmy, Jun 22 2011 It seems it is common among microcars to achieve 100 mpg.;
And most of microcars, IMO, can be made more aerodynamic i.e. with smaller Cd.-- VJW, Jun 22 2011 "The purpose of the car is to get me to work, where I design cars..."
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.
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.
While the car-buying public doesn't understand the balance of risks involved, the vehicle 'arms race' will continue.
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.-- Twizz, Jun 23 2011 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
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-- EdwinBakery, Jun 23 2011 random, halfbakery