Its an enclosed, recombinant electric bicycle that can drive at highway speeds. It’s a more modern version of a device that has been tried before in failed brands like the Twike.
It’s highly unlikely to “change the face of urban mobilty” in any appreciable way.
Admittedly the relevant technologies have had 30 years to develop, but I agree that it seems unlikely this will find any sort of market.
IDK anything about physics or engineering, but the idea of converting mechanical input to electricity and then converting that back to mechanical output seems inherently inefficient. When your own body is providing that input efficiency is critically important.
All the additional structure and faring and third wheel (hah!) and dare I say… other junk, is just more weight to haul around when in battery / people powered mobility efficiency is the primary consideration.
Also, can I assume the energy a human can generate is only a small fraction of what’s required to get 2 people plus 100kg shaped like a minibus moving at 75mp/h? At that point it’s pretty much just a small electric car.
It’s also a regulatory nightmare. I could go on but while this thing seems really cool, I just don’t see how it can work as a functional vehicle.
Its an enclosed, recombinant electric bicycle that can drive at highway speeds. It’s a more modern version of a device that has been tried before in failed brands like the Twike.
It’s highly unlikely to “change the face of urban mobilty” in any appreciable way.
Admittedly the relevant technologies have had 30 years to develop, but I agree that it seems unlikely this will find any sort of market.
IDK anything about physics or engineering, but the idea of converting mechanical input to electricity and then converting that back to mechanical output seems inherently inefficient. When your own body is providing that input efficiency is critically important.
All the additional structure and faring and third wheel (hah!) and dare I say… other junk, is just more weight to haul around when in battery / people powered mobility efficiency is the primary consideration.
Also, can I assume the energy a human can generate is only a small fraction of what’s required to get 2 people plus 100kg shaped like a minibus moving at 75mp/h? At that point it’s pretty much just a small electric car.
It’s also a regulatory nightmare. I could go on but while this thing seems really cool, I just don’t see how it can work as a functional vehicle.