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Comment by Toutouxc | Hacker News Reader

Driving this thing at 80 km/h in normal car traffic is, IMO, suicide.

The only thing that prevents me from riding an e-scooter to work every day is bad weather, so I would actually love if we aimed even lower for personal city mobility. Make the vehicle weigh around 120 kg or so. Make it go 30 km/h tops, that's still plenty. Make it have a single seat, a roof, windshield, two front wheels, one rear wheel and a 1-2kW wheel hub motor.

A vehicle like that that could use [some of] the bicycle infrastructure we already have and would be significantly cheaper and easier to operate and maintain than a full-size car, while still offering acceptable comfort for <1h commutes.

(I live and work in Prague, Czech Republic, Europe.)

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If I was in a bike lane, I would not be interested in sharing it with a 120kg enclosed scooter. If you've got a roof you can go drive in the road with the other cars.

The Netherlands already implemented these "mini cars" used by older people and limited to 45kph. I think Not Just Bikes did a video on them.

Those "mini cars" (Cantas) can only use bikepaths as long as they are registered as a mobility scooter.

There are other non-mobility scooter micro cars mentioned and there is animosity towards those and a possible ban outright on their usage of bike paths. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9ly7JjqEb0 )

You want the Carver Electric https://carver.earth/en/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carver_(automotive_company)

Any fans of EUCs? I'm considering getting one, not sure how long it will take until it becomes a practical commuting medium. [1]

1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGOvSBJq-Bg

EUC are good alternative to bicycles for commuting (or recreation). They're a bit heavy to carry, but can be rolled using handle like a travel bag with wheels.

Be aware of safety, helmet is must, many wear motorcycle gear. They are relatively easy to get started and go on very high speed. Look online for safety tips and crash videos to get a sense.

EUCs are great for mixed mode commute where you need to take a bus or a subway, or when you don't like keeping your expensive bike parked outside (you can roll it beside you like luggage). You can also ride it one way and Uber back, so that's convenient. Curbs, gravel, any sort of construction are a hassle - I can jump curbs just fine on my hardtail, but with EUCs you need to time the jump just right and if you mistime it you end up with the wheel rolling away and potentially a couple new scuffs on the case - not to mention the embarassment. Wrist protection is also mandatory. Knee stress also seems higher, especially with lots of curb jumping or on bad roads where you need to keep your knees bent to absorb impacts (newer suspension EUCs help with that, but they're also heavier and more expensive).

PS. oh, and it's much nicer than biking in hot weather, although I guess same is the case with e-bikes.

I bought one and rode it for a while. Honestly, it’s quite hard to learn, tiring on the legs, and I would say it felt strictly less fun, less safe, and less useful compared to the two wheel scooters.

I haven’t tried a “one wheel” but I think it may be better due to its “snowboard stance” rather than the ankle clench you have to use to ride a EUC.

As a novelty, sure, I’m glad I tried it, but ultimately I sold it and strongly prefer eBikes and eScooters.

> The only thing that prevents me from riding an e-scooter to work every day is bad weather

In the Chinese context, riding an e-scooter to work every day is presumably fairly common, though much less common than riding an unpowered bicycle.

Bad weather is dealt with by wearing bike ponchos.

Would something like the BMW C1 suit your needs? [0]

Its old but maybe you can find a cheap used one.

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_C1

Like an Aptera?

https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/1/22358355/aptera-ev-three-w...

> Suicide

Have you seen motorbikes?

You can tell me that’s not as safe as a full car, but 80km/h is very much reasonable.

Nobody wants to drive at 30km/h, or else you’d see a lot more golf carts on the road.

> Have you seen motorbikes?

I have, I love them and there's a reason I don't ride one.

> 80km/h is very much reasonable

80 km/h is a speed at which people still die in modern full-size cars, and those have actual crumple zones and weigh about twice as much as the QQ.

> Nobody wants to drive at 30km/h

Not in a car, but most e-bikes and e-scooters go around 20-25 km/h and they're the mode of transport I was trying to enhance with my imaginary vehicle. I don't want a small car, because small cars have to share normal road infrastructure with big cars, even hellishly big cars (semis). I want a four-wheeled bicycle with a roof and a weak electric motor. I want it to share as much infrastructure as possible with bicycles (while endangering them as little as possible).

What you describe is in use in the Netherlands. Although when I lived there I was never a fan of mixing motorised and unmotorised on the bike paths.

Yes I would love this, almost like an electric tuktuk[0] with the two wheels in front.

[0]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_rickshaw

Maybe you know about renault twizy https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Twizy ?

Yes, a colleague owns one. Renault moved production to Busan, Korea for obvious reasons: the Asian market us just better for these vehicles.

https://europe.autonews.com/blogs/renault-twizy-gets-new-lif...

After seeing this design in Funny Face, I wonder why we ever lost it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VELAM

You get in from the front! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUXiQMozHkM

People didn't like their legs being part of the car's crumple zone: https://carbuzz.com/news/famously-unsafe-bmw-isetta

Also, in the event of an accident, you're trapped.

When I first saw this car (pre-internet), it was in the music video for Depeche Mode's "Never Let Me Down Again"... I refused to believe it was a real model that wasn't just made for the video. It just seemed so impractical.

You have exactly described the PodRide. I wouldn't be surprised if you have already seen the "viral" video.

https://www.mypodride.com/

I haven't but yes, this is perfect!

Or a Cree SAM, seems like even more exact match.

Sounds like an electric velomobile: https://www.velocityvelos.com/collections/velo-models

Check out the Renault Twizy. There are some other vehicles in the class, like the Citroen Ami.

speaking of the part of Europe, the price point reminds me of the Yugo.

https://www.librarypoint.org/blogs/post/the-yugo/

No one in the USA would drive such a thing when everyone else drives giant SUVs.

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