Single Seat Cars

[Freak'n Big Panda]

Here's the idea:

Tiny Tiny car (<500kg)
Fully Electric Motor
100km/h Top speed
Acceleration is irrelevant as long as it can get to 100km/h in under 30 seconds so you could use a tiny tiny motor
1 Seat
Enough storage space for a gym bag + a coat
at least 100km range (not sure if this is possible but it would have to be for this to be a true success)

=< $5000 New

literally everyone could buy one at that price point. And nobody would be wasting energy moving around a massive vehicle when they only need to get themselves to work and back. Now obviously the major draw back is family trips or if you want to take ur gf out somewhere but w.e the energy savings and overall efficiency of this solution would be worth it.

Question is why hasn't something similar to this been done?

 

[AlphaWolf]

There are a number of cheap motorcycle like vehicles (3 wheels to sidestep safety requirements), they sacrifice safety and practicality in exchange for a small profile and low running cost.

The problem for me is that while it would have some use for me running to the store picking up some items, I still would need a 2nd vehicle so ultimately it would just be an additional cost to me which would make its purchase essentially a waste of money.

 

[Freak'n Big Panda]

Yeah fair enough. But what if everyone had one of these cars? Then why would you need anything else? They would provide enough space for yourself and your other family members and friends would have their own eliminating the problem.

 

[AlphaWolf]

Yeah fair enough. But what if everyone had one of these cars? Then why would you need anything else? They would provide enough space for yourself and your other family members and friends would have their own eliminating the problem.

Children, pets, carrying more than 1 bag of groceries. Prefer to sleep while someone else drives.

 

[Freak'n Big Panda]

yea god dam. isn't there some better solution though? It seriously hurts my brain every time I walk to work and I see hundreds of people driving themselves to work in their SUVs/BMW/Mercs/etc. There has to be a better way.

 

[AlphaWolf]

http://pesn.com/2005/05/27/9600102_HydroSol_Mag-Lev_Trailblazer/

There's some other systems like that proposed where you actually just drive the rail cars and link up with other cars till you want to exit

 

[NVNDA]

1 seat car is the perfect solution. I think the Mclaren F1 had the ideal seating arrangement. I don’t want any passengers in my peripheral vision, and since I’m reading B3D all the time I don’t have any friends anyway.

Just make sure that it is at least a MR or FR engine+drivetrain with a 300hp NA engine.

 

[Valzic]

The problem is us. Everyone who gets a car always thinks - well i need more space for my family and friends. Sports cars with 2 seats are fun but people always felt they were impractical and thus a luxury.

We have a number oif 2 seaters like Mercedes Smart Twofor. That is a step in right direction. But it seems to me a tough choice for many to make. Reduce the passenger seating. It may take measures like they have in London England where they charge you for driving into city center to change our habits.

I can see if they allowed small 1-2 seaters into a city centre and charged for normal vehicles might start to change what we use for commuting. Otherwise its a long process to change societies preference to get the biggest vehicles we can.

 

[AlNom]

yea god dam. isn't there some better solution though? It seriously hurts my brain every time I walk to work and I see hundreds of people driving themselves to work in their SUVs/BMW/Mercs/etc. There has to be a better way.

The public transit system that runs no matter what?

 

[_xxx_]

It has been done numerous times, but noone wanted it. It IS useless after all.

 

[zed]

better yet a one(*) seater car that i dont have to driver
jump in the car + read the paper on the way to work, now thats living
a car in a sense is a cocoon, u block out the ouside world, play your music etc + sometimes can be a relaxing sanctuary.
but think how much more relaxing it would be to not have to worry about crashing

(*) or any seater

 

[Freak'n Big Panda]

better yet a one(*) seater car that i dont have to driver
jump in the car + read the paper on the way to work, now thats living
a car in a sense is a cocoon, u block out the ouside world, play your music etc + sometimes can be a relaxing sanctuary.
but think how much more relaxing it would be to not have to worry about crashing

(*) or any seater

Extremely efficient public transit is the answer I think. Something along the lines of what was mentioned in AlphaWolf's post.

http://pesn.com/2005/05/27/9600102_H...v_Trailblazer/

There's some other systems like that proposed where you actually just drive the rail cars and link up with other cars till you want to exit

 

[Dave Baumann]

<cough>

http://www.nvg.org/sinclair/vehicles/c5.htm

Misses the speed targets a little though!

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Here's the idea:

Tiny Tiny car (<500kg)
Fully Electric Motor
100km/h Top speed
Acceleration is irrelevant as long as it can get to 100km/h in under 30 seconds so you could use a tiny tiny motor
1 Seat
Enough storage space for a gym bag + a coat
at least 100km range (not sure if this is possible but it would have to be for this to be a true success)

=< $5000 New

literally everyone could buy one at that price point. And nobody would be wasting energy moving around a massive vehicle when they only need to get themselves to work and back. Now obviously the major draw back is family trips or if you want to take ur gf out somewhere but w.e the energy savings and overall efficiency of this solution would be worth it.

Question is why hasn't something similar to this been done?

No they couldnt. What if you have kids? besides, nobody in his right mind would spend 5k on a stupid slow small electric car. Why? because you can get a decent sized car for that kind of money or buy a motorbike that does 250+kmph if you want to go fast.

Also 100km range? even in a small country like holland that will be a problem. And acceleration doesnt matter? how about driving on the highway? if you need to get on the highway from your village and all the other cars are already driving 100kmph it will be very dangerous if you need like forever to get to that speed.

The only people buying it would be those goddamned hippies that dont have a clue and think its enviromental friendly because it runs on electricity. Forgetting that those batteries arnt exactly enviromental friendly not to mention that you need very polluting coal energry plants to generate the electricity.

If people need to buy a electric car, buy a fisker, or that hybrid apollo gumpert that will compete in the 24 hours of the nurburgring

 

[soylent]

Have a look at the Aptera. It meets most of those characteristics and it's very fuel efficient but it's not going to be cheap.

It probably could be reasonably cheap, but that'd require mass production.

 

[Blazkowicz]

You could have the passenger seat behind the driver seat, use it for cargo when you're alone.

 

[_xxx_]

You could have the passenger seat behind the driver seat, use it for cargo when you're alone.

Also been there, done that

http://www.seriouswheels.com/cars/top-vw-1-liter-car.htm