Saw Lowry?

If you can't figure out this Buttle Tuttle thing we will have to take it to Information Retrieval.

It's a neat looking little car, if there was ANY storage room (for a bag or 2 of groceries) I'd buy one.

Came here to mention the Messerschmitt, saw that it was covered.

/I kinda like how the bubble top variant looks like it's wearing a German army helmet.
//If I owned one, I'd see about putting one of those WWI helmet spikes on the top.
///Funny how the Wikipedia page doesn't mention Brazil.

Krieghund: That's a cute little car in the article.

Actually, subby, Sam Lowry's car was a real car: the Messerschmitt KR200 (new window) which was produced from 1955 to 1964.

Yep, and back then it got 87 MPG.

TheYeti: Nevermind....I found my answer.

At just a bit more than 4 feet wide and just a bit shy of 8 feet long, Murray's city cars are smaller than a Smart ForTwo or Scion iQ yet they can seat three people or carry 750 liters [26 cubic feet] of cargo.

(new window)

But they can't do both. That limits the market to urban singles and childless couples.

dittybopper: That limits the market to urban singles and childless couples.

Two growing market segments.

Please note that this car has a 100 mile cruising range; i.e. unable to make the return trip without a 4 hour recharge.

Krieghund: That's a cute little car in the article.

Actually, subby, Sam Lowry's car was a real car: the Messerschmitt KR200 (new window) which was produced from 1955 to 1964.

Believe it or not, I came here to say this. Car nerds unite!

And it looks like it almost fits and entire adult human.

Good luck getting around on michigan roads with that thing! One pot hole and it would be totaled.

t3knomanser: dittybopper: That limits the market to urban singles and childless couples.

Two growing market segments.

Still a relatively small subset. Hell, my family consists of three people: Myself, the distaffbopper, and the littlebopper. Truth be told, the dittymobile rarely has more than one passenger in it: Me. But I wouldn't get a car that could hold less than 4 people and at least a few groceries at the same time. That's because it's the back-up for the 'family' car: If something immobilizes the family sedan, my little silver hedgehog has to take over.

/It's got 5 antennas on it, hence the 'hedgehog' sobriquet.

That song that plays as he drives always puts a smile on my face.
/it should come with a single.

The car use$ 1.20 in electricity which is the equivalent of 350 mpg. Not the same as gets 350 mpg

PghThermal: Please note that this car has a 100 mile cruising range; i.e. unable to make the return trip without a 4 hour recharge.

I could drive to/from work at least an entire week on one 4 hour charge.... these things are not designed (not that you said this) to take your family on a week long vacation 15 hours away - they're designed to get the 85% of the people who commute less than 30 miles to work and back using a minimum of energy. In short they are safer (slightly), weather protected motorcycles and I've been waiting a long time to get something reasonable in this category.

Do you want to be contending with 18-wheelers and over-sized texas bubba-trucks on the highway in one of those things?

godofatheist: The car use$ 1.20 in electricity which is the equivalent of 350 mpg. Not the same as gets 350 mpg

Yeah, I don't get why people can't just say it takes $.03 of electricity to go a mile. I have an idea of what I pay for gas to get 24 mpg.

Fizpez: PghThermal: Please note that this car has a 100 mile cruising range; i.e. unable to make the return trip without a 4 hour recharge.

I could drive to/from work at least an entire week on one 4 hour charge.... these things are not designed (not that you said this) to take your family on a week long vacation 15 hours away - they're designed to get the 85% of the people who commute less than 30 miles to work and back using a minimum of energy. In short they are safer (slightly), weather protected motorcycles and I've been waiting a long time to get something reasonable in this category.

I used to ride a motorcycle for my main transportation. It was practical and cheap for a single guy. I would not rely on one today as a commuter vehicle, because I'm not single anymore.

Plus, that "85% who commute less than 30 miles to work and back" is a deceptive metric: This US Department of Transportation paper shows that while the average person has a commute like that (average trip to or from work: 12.2 miles, making the average daily commute 24.4 miles), it doesn't account for trips for shopping, family/personal errands, and recreational/social trips. Those don't necessarily happen *DAILY*, like a commute for work does, but when they do happen, they can bump the range traveled in a day from 24.4 miles total to over 78 miles.

Plus, using average commute can also be deceptive in this day and age: My average total commute is 60 miles per day. A car with a 100 mile range should be plenty, right? Wrong. I work from home 2 days a week, and the actual distance traveled is 100 miles per day on the days I drive into work.

Also, most people don't buy a vehicle to handle their averages, they buy one to accommodate their greatest expected use. My car averages about 1.05 people per trip. Theoretically, I could get away with a single place vehicle, right? Except that it's important to me to have enough seating to take my family, which happens only occasionally, but it does happen. So I need a bare minimum of 3 seats, and preferably 4.

Yes, you can rent a car to handle the exceptions, but if I have to rent one once every couple of months, that's more hassle than the savings happen to be worth (not to mention that the cost of 6 to 12 days rental spread out over the year would eat up between $250 to $500 - Roughly about 2,500 to 5,000 miles worth of gas in my current vehicle.

dittybopper: But they can't do both. That limits the market to urban singles and childless couples.

The majority of trips by car in this country are made alone. You don't need a family truckster for ever single trip you make in your car.

Dwight_Yeast: dittybopper: But they can't do both. That limits the market to urban singles and childless couples.

The majority of trips by car in this country are made alone. You don't need a family truckster for ever single trip you make in your car.

See my post above.

godofatheist: The car use$ 1.20 in electricity which is the equivalent of 350 mpg. Not the same as gets 350 mpg

So much of this. In fact, even the headline of the article is BS. "Gordon Murray's 350MPG EV sweeps the board and steals our hearts"

Not that it isnt good, all credit to him, he just needs to make sure it isnt represented by rubbish in the press.

350 Miles per gallon electric vehicle, oxymoron perhaps? and gallon of what, electrons?

\Wonders what the weight of a gallon of electrons would be
\\Could probably work it out, cant be bothered

Phatteh: godofatheist: The car use$ 1.20 in electricity which is the equivalent of 350 mpg. Not the same as gets 350 mpg

So much of this. In fact, even the headline of the article is BS. "Gordon Murray's 350MPG EV sweeps the board and steals our hearts"

Not that it isnt good, all credit to him, he just needs to make sure it isnt represented by rubbish in the press.

350 Miles per gallon electric vehicle, oxymoron perhaps? and gallon of what, electrons?

\Wonders what the weight of a gallon of electrons would be
\\Could probably work it out, cant be bothered

Think for a second what a bucket of neutrons would weight....

/assuming similar packing density
/3.7×10^17 to 5.9×10^17 kg/m^3

Phatteh: 350 Miles per gallon electric vehicle, oxymoron perhaps? and gallon of what, electrons?

\Wonders what the weight of a gallon of electrons would be
\\Could probably work it out, cant be bothered

MPGe is a standard (new window), created by the Department of Energy. It isn't perfect, but it's a pretty good comparison. You can convert a kWh into Btu and you can convert a gallon of gas into Btu. Using that as a standard, you can compare petroleum fuel energy to electrical energy.

"The ratings are based on EPA's formula, in which 33.7 kilowatt hours of electricity is equivalent to one gallon of gasoline"

One gallon of gas = ~116,000 Btu
33.7 kWh = ~115,000 Btu

I'm a perfect candidate for one of these gizmos. I live just under 6 miles from work, most of it driven on a cars-only parkway or very suburban streets if the parkway's backed up. And I'm not tall. I'd ride my bicycle in good weather but there are no showers here or even a bike rack.

I'll just leave this here...

Myers Motors (new window)

dittybopper: Also, most people don't buy a vehicle to handle their averages, they buy one to accommodate their greatest expected use.

That's true if you only have one car. But how many multi-driver households have only one car?

We have a small car that gets used only for commuting. It hasn't driven 50 miles in one day in the years since I bought it. We have a small SUV for utility, fun, and snowy commuting, so we don't need the other car to do much. I bet a lot of households are in similar positions. Sure, it wouldn't work for everyone, but I bet a lot of households could benefit from a vehicle like this.

pearls before swine: We have a small car that gets used only for commuting. It hasn't driven 50 miles in one day in the years since I bought it. We have a small SUV for utility, fun, and snowy commuting, so we don't need the other car to do much. I bet a lot of households are in similar positions. Sure, it wouldn't work for everyone, but I bet a lot of households could benefit from a vehicle like this.

Yep, same with my household, and the one next to us, and the one next to them.

-a small 4-door car, like a Civic, for commutes
-a SUV or quad cab truck for towing and weekends

In suburbia, that's about 75% of the households.

pearls before swine: We have a small car that gets used only for commuting. It hasn't driven 50 miles in one day in the years since I bought it. We have a small SUV for utility, fun, and snowy commuting, so we don't need the other car to do much. I bet a lot of households are in similar positions. Sure, it wouldn't work for everyone, but I bet a lot of households could benefit from a vehicle like this.

I think some of you are missing the point he made and the reality of many people's lives.

Your OTHER car is not 100% available - they break down, they get flats, they get in wrecks, etc. So both cars must be able to perform the same function at least minimally and on demand without notice.. Also, with two working parents, it is very common that one car will take a child to daycare/school and the other car will bring them back.

These tiny four-wheeled motorcylces are FINE for short distance, single urban dwellers, but they are a poor fit for a family. Just as a small 4 door sedan is perfect for the average family, but is a poor fit for a family with 5 kids.

The POINT is not that they shouldn't make these because they don;t work for a lot of people, it's that they SHOULD make these - but with a bit more space so more people could justify buying them.

/Also, that limited range thing is also a significant impediment. I work 10 miles from my house. But SOME days I may have to drive 150 miles - and I don't know if it's going to be one of THOSE days when I leave the house.

I wouldn't like to drive that on third-world roads like in Africa, South America or the USA.

So isit a personnel carrier or a personal carrier?

"Safest car on the road"
"yes my little chauffeur"
"That`s the beauty of a 2 stroke engine"

pearls before swine: dittybopper: Also, most people don't buy a vehicle to handle their averages, they buy one to accommodate their greatest expected use.

That's true if you only have one car. But how many multi-driver households have only one car?

We have a small car that gets used only for commuting. It hasn't driven 50 miles in one day in the years since I bought it. We have a small SUV for utility, fun, and snowy commuting, so we don't need the other car to do much. I bet a lot of households are in similar positions. Sure, it wouldn't work for everyone, but I bet a lot of households could benefit from a vehicle like this.

You could say basically the same thing about my little commuter car, *EXCEPT* for the fact that yes, it does occasionally have to haul 4 people, or a mattress, or bunk beds (I get hatchbacks so that I can do that kind of thing). Sometimes I have to drive a distance other than for work (hunting, visiting Dad, visiting my BiL and his family, taking someone to the airport, etc).

Though lately, it's been more of a mobile communications van. Outside of normal, local contacts on 2 Meter FM, I've contacted Cuba, Ecuador, Brazil, Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, Alaska, British Columbia, Argentina, and Venezuela on 10 Meters. Using Morse code. While driving.