human powered car 60mph

[Charles Pegge]

http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/19082010/36/human-powered-car-reach-60mph-0.html

[Petr Schreiber]

I like this, ideal for summer rides... :)


Petr

[danbaron]

[font=courier new][size=8pt]I can't imagine how hand cranks can be more efficient than pedaling, like on a recumbent bike.

And, I bet for £10,000, you could get a gold plated recumbent bike.

It seems to me that for £10,000, it will generally be viewed as an expensive toy.

Isn't Tata selling an automobile in India for $2500 ?

There is a justification for selling the "Imagine PS" for six times what the Tata sells for ?

Otherwise, I like the idea of human powered vehicles.

I think the repair costs would be maybe 1% of those for an automobile.

:oops: :x :twisted:
Dan

[danbaron]

[font=courier new][size=8pt]Do you remember, I think just before its release, when it was almost accepted fact, that the "Segway", would change the course of human history?

It hasn't happened yet, but probably any day now, yes?!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segway_PT

Here are some quotes from the Wikipedia article.

The company was sold in early 2010 to a group led by British millionaire Jimi Heselden, chairman of Hesco Bastion.[1]

When it was launched in December 2001 the annual sales target was 40,000 units,[52] and the company expected to sell 50,000 to 100,000 units in the first 13
months.[53] Segway Inc's investors were optimistic. Dean Kamen predicted that the Segway "will be to the car what the car was to the horse and buggy"[54] and
John Doerr, a venture capitalist who invested in the company,[55] predicted that Segway Inc would be the fastest company to reach US$1 billion in sales.[54] In
fact only about 30,000 Segways were sold from 2001 to 2007.[55]

Critics point to Segway Inc's silence over its financial performance as an indication that the company is still not profitable, as about US$100 million was
spent developing the Segway.[54]

I did a Yahoo search on "segway pt prices". As best I can determine, the price is approximately, $6000.

But, if you can find a price at the following link, then you're better than me.

http://segway.com/

Seeing how the Segway has done, doesn't make me too optimistic for the "Imagine PS", at $15,523.

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In my opinion, by far the most fuel efficient vehicle is the train.

I think that a person lying in a recumbent (almost prone, on his back) position, pedaling a light aerodynamic vehicle with steel inner rimmed wheels (like train
wheels), on a steel railroad type track, could go really fast. The track could be standard gage (4 feet 8.5 inches), or smaller. Rolling resistance would become
close to zero. (The vehicle would have four steel wheels, two on each rail.)

I wouldn't be surprised if many people could reach 100 mph in such a vehicle, and if many people were able to travel 60 miles in one hour.

:oops: :x :twisted:
Dan