I wonder if they'll design another car that gets 100 mpg and runs on anything from gasoline to old deep frier fat, but pull it from the market when gas prices go down...
That is extremely cool. Unfortunately, by the time it's had all the crap added to it so it will pass US safety regulations, it'll weigh twice as much and get slightly better fuel mileage than a regular sub compact.
I seem to recall learning that they had done just that during the last big fuel scare. it was even taught in a class, so it has a little bit of credibility, but it was an environmentalism class taught by an environmentalist, so who can say/
The 1L is a street legal car. It was designed from the start to be and has been used by the VW CEO to drive around Europe. If meeting safety standards is really a concern they could always go the route of this - http://www.aptera.com/. As a three wheeled vehicle it is technically a motorcycle so it doesn't need to meet car safety standards.
Street legal in Europe is not the same as street legal in the US. As for three wheels, the picture showed four, which qualifies it as a car.
Regarding my weight/safety comment, see Daimler's Smart - by the time it was re-engineered to meet US safety regs for sale in the states, the weight went up enough to cause a substantial drop in fuel efficiency. I want to say something around 20 to 30%
That's cool and all, but I wouldn't give its driver a snowflake's chance in hell of surviving a collision with an ordinary car. Me, I have always considered "surviving the commute" to be an essential feature of any car I might buy.
I'm not concerned about the size, I'm concerned about the lightweight material crumpling like tin foil when met with steel.
The cursory research I've done claims that "the 1-Litre-Car is as safe as a GT sports car registered for racing" (http://gas2.org/2008/03/12/the-worlds-most-fuel-efficient-car-285-mpg-not-a-hybrid/), but this does not really tell me much.
I would also be leery of the notion of having to rely on video screens for rear- and side-view mirrors, because in every car I've ever owned, the electronic shit is always the first thing to break. That's one thing when it's your power windows; it's quite another when it means you might suddenly have two thirds of your visual access cut off.
other than the fear of an extended stay in the tire groves of an SUV, i do wonder how much it will cost.. i mean.. Titanium and Carbon Fibre are not cheap. A car that fuel efficient is useless if ordinary people can't afford them.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-28 05:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-28 05:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-28 06:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-28 06:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-28 07:20 pm (UTC)Regarding my weight/safety comment, see Daimler's Smart - by the time it was re-engineered to meet US safety regs for sale in the states, the weight went up enough to cause a substantial drop in fuel efficiency. I want to say something around 20 to 30%
(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-29 12:15 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-28 05:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-28 06:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-28 06:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-28 06:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-28 06:46 pm (UTC)The cursory research I've done claims that "the 1-Litre-Car is as safe as a GT sports car registered for racing" (http://gas2.org/2008/03/12/the-worlds-most-fuel-efficient-car-285-mpg-not-a-hybrid/), but this does not really tell me much.
I would also be leery of the notion of having to rely on video screens for rear- and side-view mirrors, because in every car I've ever owned, the electronic shit is always the first thing to break. That's one thing when it's your power windows; it's quite another when it means you might suddenly have two thirds of your visual access cut off.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-28 07:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-28 09:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-29 10:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-28 09:32 pm (UTC)