Here's a guy commuting 28 miles on less than a penny a day

[beetbox]

The Conservation-Conscious Salute This Man's Commute

August 24, 2005 — By Kevin Murphy, The Kansas City Star

ST. LOUIS — As Americans worry over high gas prices, Jeff Kline glides along for less than a penny a day in his shiny new velomobile.

His what?

"People want to know what it is," Kline says, standing alongside the narrow, 9-foot-long fiberglass vehicle he got two months ago. "I tell them it is a motorized bicycle."

Picture Fred Flintstone, running on the ground to get his car going before it zips away under its own power. Kline starts pedaling, and then batteries take over to move the vehicle along at an average cruising speed of about 22 mph.

But Kline didn't spend $7,500 to amuse people. Hybrid vehicles are being taken seriously as people look for ways to avoid rising fuel expenses and be conservation-conscious. Sales of cars partly powered by batteries are soaring in the United States.

Kline said he has the only velomobile in Missouri or Kansas. He also has one of the country's two Aerorider models, a fully enclosed vehicle with turn signals, lights and other features that make it drive like a car even though it is technically a bicycle. It does not require vehicle plates or registration.


http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=8604

[SoCalDem]

1. Sounds like a great idea if someone works locally

and the workplace has secure storage/parking facilities for the velomobile..Sounds small enough to steal pretty easily:(

[beetbox]

2. Just Posted Some Photos

Saw many of these in Europe.

As people see more here a movement begins.

[Dogmudgeon]

3. Now we need a low-cost version

Most of these critters cost upwards of $4k. Would it be possible to build one for $250 as a kit, or $1000 for a finished model?

--p!

[beetbox]

5. As more people used them

costs would go down somewhat, but I think the essence of what we need is to consider altogether new modes of transport. That means having vehicles such as this being the primary transportation unit eliminating autos from our mindset. This means travelling less and shorter distances.

We are just so conditioned to think of say 100 miles as a short distance due to our recent and altogether destructive foray into the internal combustion vehicle.

Guzzle Gas, and Pretend

by Derrick Z. Jackson-Americans probably know this deep down. It is almost as if we are binging to distract us from the needless killing. We build bigger subdivisions as far out as we can, no matter what it means in commuting time and $2.55 gasoline.

In a New York Times feature this week about ''living large" in the exurbs, a sales representative joked with a family that was looking at a model home, ''Lots of places to hide, aren't there, boys?" It is mathematically impossible for the rest of the world to live like this. As the boys play hide and seek for a moment, the parents play out the fantasy that hiding from the reality of consuming a quarter of the world's energy and producing a quarter of the world's greenhouse gases is an all-American right.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0817-22.htm

[Liberal In Texas]

4. I think this would be great for temperate climates.

Great for nice days, but you'd still have to have a regular vehicle for real hot or cold days...at the moment.

Unfortunately, in Texas for example, some sort of AC would have to be figured out. In the colder north, heating. A heater probably would be easier to design than AC.

[tx_dem41]

6. I can't picture merging onto Central at Mockingbird on that thing...

much less imagining the oven that thing would be on a day like today. :)

[beetbox]

8. Many are open air

and no matter how hot if you are in motionit is not so bad.

This guy is doing it in St. Louis which is as sweltering a summer place as possible, I used to live there.

Sounds like were addicted to our conveniences.

[tx_dem41]

10. Naaah....I'm just having a little fun with a fellow Dallasite.

I actually love biking, and I have always been interested in a recumbent (sp?) bike.

[beetbox]

16. I think one of the biggest dangers

would be someone who just filled up their SUV for $75 would in a tirade want to rub out the pesky commuter in that funky and un-American Euro-bike.

[ultraist]

12. LOL!

It's a great vehicle if you live in a small town or in a city.

[beetbox]

14. The guy who is doing this

lives in suburban St. Louis one of the least bicycle friendly cities.

We would need to place alternative transport lanes all around, as we do bike lanes. That would be excellent and very possible.

[Liberal In Texas]

13. LOL...I wouldn't go on Central or LBJ on a bet in it. But...

for trips under 10 miles, say from the Mockingbird Station area to Lakewood on regular streets, it would be quite do-able.

As far as the AC, here's an idea. You could fit them with a small AC compressor and blower fan. On days like today, you would fit in an APU (Aux. Power Unit) with enough juice to run it for, say, an hour. When you get to the office, you remove the APU and plug it into an outlet to charge it up for the return home.

On nice days, you would leave the APU at home to conserve weight.

I'm sure the technology exists today to develop this, it's just that there are no incentives or gov't support.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

7. Not only heating in northern climates, but the ability to travel well

in inclimate weather. I live in NY in an area with lots of hills and lately, lots of snow in the winter. Many people drive SUVs here, although a good fwd is sufficient for most. This is very cool though!

[beetbox]

11. People ride around NY City on bicycles

all year round. Have to say it would be intimimdating to be in NYC on one of these in regular traffic. We could have seperate lanes for alternative modes as we phase out the auto.

Dressing warm and peddling in the cold and you will never get too cold.

1. Insist on complete transparancy of the world's oil reserves and production on a well by well basis.
2. Make national energy independence a national economic and security goal
3. Create an energy efficiency ethic in society that abhors wasteful behaviors
4. Raise fuel economy standards for passenger cars and trucks - encourage adoption of hybrids, electric plug-ins and other more sustainable automobile designs
5. Re-institute the 55 mph speed limit for maximum efficiency
6. Decrease traffic through better design, congestion pricing, more telecommuting, staggered start hours, off-peak commuting incentives carpooling, etc.
7. Invest in building and maintaining mass transit systems to connect as many communities as possible.
8. Invest in the national passenger and freight rail infrastructure
9. Revise building codes for maxiumum energy efficiency
10. Encourage walking, biking, line skating and all forms of self propelled transportation through clearly marked lanes and public awareness campaigns.
11. Encourage local food production, urban green gardens, farmer markets.
12. Generate as much local power as possible from solar, wind, biomass, hydro/tidal and other sustainable forms of energy

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

18. I don't live in NYC but in a northern suburb. All of your recommendations

are excellent, but I see them mostly being beneficial for those who live in a city. I reside in an area where bike riding is very difficult and everything is very spred out. When I did purchase my car, which had to be an older used one, I made sure that it had very good gas mileage. Nothing, and I will repeat nothing, is in comfortable walking distance.

We also are a community of families with children. Cars are needed to transport not only your children, but to do grocery shops.

As to number 7, people here are having enough problems affording their real estate taxes and other escalating costs, including a large school district, that investing in and maintaining a mass transit system, would be a hardship. We do have a bus system, but it just hits the main streets, and buses are few and far between. To go to the city of White Plains, it takes about 1 1/2 hours, where as by car it takes 40 minutes. Huge difference.

I personally think that one of the technologies that can take us off of being dependent on fossil fuel, is biodiesel. Diesel created his engines to run on vegetable oil, and he died under mysterious circumstances... I wonder why?

Free energy also has to be explored.

[beetbox]

21. I hear you on the property taxes

That costs us more than our mortgage.

Problem with biodiesel is it is a net energy loser. And I'm afraid the free energy thing is like the fountain of youth.

The guy who does this lives in suburbia but I know what you mean as to how the zonings have totally put many in a forced situation of automobile dependence. We need entirely new urban design and to retrofit what can be salvaged of certain suburbs. Some are unsalvageable.

[SidDithers]

26. Yeah, be kinda tough to use in Toronto in February...

unless they come with snow tires?

Sid

[mark11727]

9. It looks great, BUT...

...I'd last 5 minutes on the Long Island Expressway before I would be squished like a pie.

[Liberal In Texas]

15. I like the separate lane idea (mentioned above). It just takes some

rethinking about how we do things.

[Terran]

17. He's not driving on I-70 with that thing, is he? n/t

[beetbox]

19. No way

Can you imagine being on that at Goodfellow and 70? or where 70 and 170 converge? Ouch!


Kline said he gets plenty of double takes as he clips along in regular traffic lanes during his 28-mile round-trip commute to work in suburban St. Louis. He stays on side streets with speed limits of 35 mph or less, feels safe and, he said, other drivers show him respect on the road, often giving him a wave and a smile.


Kline said he can operate the vehicle entirely on pedals, entirely on batteries or in combination -- his usual method. His top speed has been 36 mph, and his record time for the 14-mile trip between home and work is 32 minutes.

the only energy cost of his velomobile is charging the batteries. That has been calculated at less than a penny for 50 miles of travel.

[Terran]

27. That's really cool.

Maybe when things get really tough, oil-wise, Americans will finally be willing to settle for such vehicles en masse.

[sakabatou]

20. This one looks the coolest

Plus you don't get wet in the rain

[beetbox]

22. I want one of those

like the one you chose. First saw these in Switzerland at a party I went to. Some of these can really get going into the 50-60 mph range. Most go around 30-40 mph for top speed.

[Jim__]

23. Less than a penny a day?

At $7,500 for the bike, he has to ride it for over 750,000 days for that cost to be true. I'm betting he doesn't make it.

[beetbox]

24. Talking about how much it costs to operate-energy cost

the only energy cost of his velomobile is charging the batteries. That has been calculated at less than a penny for 50 miles of travel.

[Dogmudgeon]

25. A few remarks

1. Initially, these would be ideal for suburban use. The suburbs are going to become much less desirable places to live as the price of fuel increases, but with these new replacements for automobiles, they will still be liveable. It will take some of the pressure off 'burb dwellers and make the demographic transitions easier to handle.


2. Commercial models can be developed using super-strong, super-light composite materials that will be virtually crush-proof. Add an airbag system and a helmet, and they will be safer than cars.


3. Air conditioning and heating need not be impossible or even expensive. A well-designed fan-and-vent system could keep a driver reasonably cool even in a heatwave; a real A/C could be designed for high efficiency and low cost, too.


4. Here's something for cool-cache: These vehicles are smaller versions of Bucky Fuller's Dymaxion Cars -- note the efficient three-wheel design.

--p!

[beetbox]

28. excellent link

"You can never change things by resisting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete." - Buckminster Fuller

But I still must dissent and resist the current regime. We can do both.

[beetbox]

29. kick for the night time bicyclists

[pitohui]

30. that can't be street legal

min. speed limit is 40 mph on interstates, better peddle rilly fast, dude

[all.of.me]

31. check out the 'personal mobility vehicle' from toyota!

http://toyota.com/vehicles/future/pm.html

sweet!

[beetbox]

33. Awesome

I'd like more info on that and will look into it!

Bookmarked the link.
Do you know the price?

[all.of.me]

34. i only know what is on their site.

but i think you can give them your email for updates.

wouldn't you love to see city streets clogged with these?!

[beetbox]

35. Definitely- we must change our transportation sector

1. Insist on complete transparancy of the world's oil reserves and production on a well by well basis.
2. Make national energy independence a national economic and security goal
3. Create an energy efficiency ethic in society that abhors wasteful behaviors
4. Raise fuel economy standards for passenger cars and trucks - encourage adoption of hybrids, electric plug-ins and other more sustainable automobile designs
5. Re-institute the 55 mph speed limit for maximum efficiency
6. Decrease traffic through better design, congestion pricing, more telecommuting, staggered start hours, off-peak commuting incentives carpooling, etc.
7. Invest in building and maintaining mass transit systems to connect as many communities as possible.
8. Invest in the national passenger and freight rail infrastructure
9. Revise building codes for maxiumum energy efficiency
10. Encourage walking, biking, line skating and all forms of self propelled transportation through clearly marked lanes and public awareness campaigns.
11. Encourage local food production, urban green gardens, farmer markets.
12. Generate as much local power as possible from solar, wind, biomass, hydro/tidal and other sustainable forms of energy

[Lydia Leftcoast]

32. I saw one in the parking lot of a supermarket in my area

:-)

I've also seen an unusual number of motorcycles and scooters on the street in the past couple of weeks. I don't know if they've always been there and I just didn't notice them, or if people actually are using them more for commuting.