We need ultra light four wheeled cars

[Bicycle Bob]

Agreed that extreme lightweight techniques are out of place in ordinary transportation, but I still see plenty of reasons to keep the payload above 50%. It reduces rolling friction and highway costs. Rebuilding everything for constant-speed traffic would require more land and more mileage. With regenerative braking, we should be able to keep the loss to 10% per cycle most of the time, and those systems work for grades as well.

If there is new infrastructure to be built, we could have high-speed guideways to keep our passenger pods perfectly safe while we chat and browse. We might merge into trains with mixed freight under robotic control, but with all traffic strictly limited as to weight, so that elevated sections could be built lightly at great savings. Road bridges are built to 100 lbs per sq. ft, and, since pedestrians eventually bunch up to look at things, foot bridges require 120. However, bicycles don't pack, so Dedicated bikeways are safe at 20. Enhanced velomobiles should be about the same.

[sendler]

My point about needing ultralight vehicles is not mainly about efficiency loss when stepping on the brakes from a heavy vehicle. It's about the over complex, over sized, over expensive, over consuming of materials. We don't need vehicles that are this large and heavy and fool proof crash safe (expensive) to be able to get where we are going. The larger and heavier the vehicle, the larger the battery and motor that is needed to move it. We won't have enough battery raw materials to build 3 billion people a car with a 60kWh battery. And also build 100's of TWh's of stationary electrical storage. I am promoting a new way of thinking about enclosed, all weather electric personal transportation like the Electromechanica. But with 4 wheels for all weather use in the snow. Which right now is prohibited by law since it would then have to conform to all of the overprotective and wasteful crash safety. We need to learn to do more with less.

[Bicycle Bob]

My velomobile did surprisingly well in the snow, with only 25% of the weight on the drive wheel. Carving three tracks was a detriment, but they were very narrow for efficiency anyway, and sliced down to pavement when wider tires would spin. With power assist applied to the front wheels, I think it would be quite capable.

The surprise bonus was that if it did get stuck, it was not hard to move as a sled pulled by hand, or even as a backpack. For a carry, I just stood it on the back wheel and leaned it's belly on my back. Then, fingers over my shoulders made the carry hooks to grab the front crossmember. With a bit of a lean forward some of the weight got onto my hips without fussing over belts.

I think that the extreme lightweights, which can be carried indoors in one or two parts open up a whole new class of vehicle for people who can't afford a parking spot. A separate battery makes sense for charging strategies, and it can include wheels and a rack for the handy luggage container.

[sendler]

I ride my electric bicycle in the snow with studded 3" tires. But of course my intention for this thread is 70 mph winter highway capable commuter vehicles. Electromechanica Solo is close but no cigar in the snow due to the single rear wheel drive.
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[freebeard]

I am promoting a new way of thinking about enclosed, all weather electric personal transportation like the Electromechanica. But with 4 wheels for all weather use in the snow.

Where are you promoting it? Nothing much jumps out here.

If Elon Musk needs a sled to make his tunnel work, couldn't one drive a human powered pod onto a miniaturized ramp truck and control it from there?

[RedDevil]

A tripod design does not necessarily mean it's hopeless in snow...

It just depends on the grip the rear 'wheel' gets.

[sendler]

Originally Posted by RedDevil

A tripod design does not necessarily mean it's hopeless in snow...

It just depends on the grip the rear 'wheel' gets.

For a highway car a single rear wheel drive would be absolutely harrowing on winter highways in my area. Apparently most people have never seen interstate highways with a slush track down the middle of each lane. I will have to get a camera and start documenting the road conditions (and local solar panel snow cover) that I experience daily for 1/3 of the year.
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[Bicycle Bob]

People buy an awful lot of excess capacity to avoid schedule adjustments on snowy days. It is easy to take a day off with lower bills, and recapture the joy of schoolchildren. Also, I knew a canny old self-insured Taxi owner who parked all his cars when it snowed, despite the increased business.
Yes, I'm familiar with roads that make lane changing a chancy proposition, with little traction and strongly differential drag leading to the spinouts seen on Russian dash-cam clips. One solution to the third wheel track problem in nasty conditions might be simply using FWD and a ski. A friend once drove 30 miles with a frozen rear brake. He got a mild flat spot on the tire.

[sendler]

My career demands reliable attendance. And snow is not once in a while where I live.

[slowmover]

Originally Posted by aerohead

If you can get rid of left turns and synchronize all traffic lights,mass becomes meaningless,as now you have the ability to remain in constant motion until you arrive at your destination.
Any low drag car could be of stamped-steel and glass construction,just like any entry-level vehicle.There's absolutely no reason for exotic weight reduction if you have zero transient operation.
To get there,you'll need to divorce states and federal government from fuel taxes and use a different mechanism to underwrite the Highway Trust Fund.Otherwise,there's absolutely zero incentive to save fuel.
You'll also need to forbid federal,state,county,and municipal government pension funds from investing in oil corporations and manufacturers of gas-guzzlers,as is presently done,in order to disincentivize fuel waste,which presently supports extra fuel sales, producing additional tax revenue.
You'll also want to have a moratorium on any new real state development (residential or commercial),where there exists any traffic congestion,which is the major driver for fuel waste in the US.
Burn the Civil Engineer's handbooks.
Demolish all corner real estate development and replace with cloverleafs,as existed at the dawn of the highway system.
Tell the tax appraisal districts to sit on it and rotate.

Those who own the country AREN'T interested in the outcome. Those few who are Americans will leave at the end without any regrets.

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