I mentioned a human electric hybrid vehicle before the Twike, but if you are not in pedaling check out the BUGe, a DIY electric vehicle you can buy from a kit for $3,000 or buy fully assembles for $4,00. Pretty neat idea, and great for small trips. The benefit of electric vehicles is the improved efficiency and zero emissions from the car, if you get your energy from coal you will still be creating green house gasses. Even if you are using coal to create the electricity to power the vehicle it is still produce less (pdf) green house gasses than if you burned gasoline or diesel in an internal combustion engine.
The design goal was to create a simple, low cost personal mobility vehicle that could function in a four-season environment on city streets.
The vast majority of vehicle trips are local (20 miles or less) by one person
(75%) within the community. This is also where livability is threatened by pollution and congestion. This is where people live. Their personal mobility options should be compatible with those community values.
Local urban transportation is perfectly suitable for electric power since electric motors produce good torque and low end power for stop and go traffic, do not need transmissions, are off at signals because they do not need to idle.
A small battery pack is adequate for these short trips and re-charging opportunities are available everywhere within the gird, from every outlet. Every convenience store is a power station. Energy efficiency is 1 cent per mile.
A light-weight vehicle is compatible with short trips within the community provided if offers some minimum features typically not found on two wheeled bicycles and scooters:
Cargo capacity (two bags of groceries)
Stability (three wheels)
Visibility in traffic (auto seat height)
Weather protection (wind and rain)(via)
> As a neighborhood use vehicle, performance need not exceed
> 40-50 mph enabling the vehicle to be quick but not fast since
> high-speed freeway traffic situations and the associated risks are
> avoided.
I beg to disagree. 40-50mph into a tree, concrete wall or other such immobile object (car door) is a huge ‘associated risk’. A relatively ‘low speed’ (20-30mph) crash with an immobile object can be devistating.
If you go to the main website and examine the photos, as designed the BugE is completely open on each side, offering little side-impact protection and zero weather protection from the left, right and rear.
As someone who’s been driving a 10-year-old Twike in the US for almost 6 months for my daily commute and around town errands, I can tell you that your electric vehicle needs to be able to easily do +10mph over the posted speed limit on a road — if the posted speed limit is 45mph (as thankfully few city roads are in Illinois, but as you get into the SouthWest such as Tucson, where winter conditions are better, 45 mph intown speed limits are quite frequent), then your vehicle better be able to do 50-55mph to keep up with traffic, and 40-45mph on a 35mph street.
I can’t see the BugE being a 4-season vehicle as designed — today was 23degF here in Champaign, adjusted for windchill to 10degF. In a comparatively drafty Twike (the new ones are much more snug) I was fine going to lunch in just my sweater and sunglasses (coat sat beside me on the passenger seat for when I got out). The Twike does not have a heater (other than your legs from pedaling), however because it blocks out 99% of the windchill, and the huge canopy allows for massive passive solar heating, I’ve never needed a scarf or a hat in the Twike, even when I choose not to pedal, and I’ve driven it all winter. Twiking in the snow is tons of fun!
That being said, I do recognize that the Twike as manufactured in Germany is 7x more than the stated cost of the BugE assembled (US$30,000) And darn hard to get ahold of in the US (I’m still on the waiting list for a new one).
However I do believe you truely get what you pay for: the Twike has over 10 years of design/redesign behind it, as well as over 800 vehicles produced, of which many are still on the roads. I’ve (intentionally) done doughnuts in it on an icy parking lot, driven it through the snow and am quite confident in its stability — it does not exhibit -any- signs of wanting to roll over, as most folks familiar with the 3-wheel ATV craze of the 80’s (kiddos got killed when the ATV rolled over on them) frequently ask. I frequently drop off my 6-year-old at school on the way to work as well as my 1-year-old at daycare (The Twike is a highly flexible/modifiable vehicle… I have modified my 1-year-old’s carseat to fit in the boot area of the Twike).
Hi M@
We have also covered the Twike and found it highly awesome.
http://www.blog.thesietch.org/2006/12/21/human-electric-hybrid/
Thanks for the in depth review, if you ever wanted to write something about your experience owning and operating an electric vehicle I would be happy to publish it (use the contact form to get a hold of me)
We just got the kit to make the BugE. We would LOVE to be able to communicate with other folks who have already built theirs, or are in the process of doing so. Can you point us in the right direction?