Open Source Car — 20 Year Lease, Free Fuel For Life 319
ruphus13 writes "The race for a hyper-fuel-efficient car is on in a big way. Now, Riversimple has tried to leverage the knowledge of the masses to bring its vision to reality soon with a car that gives the equivalent of 300 miles to the gallon. 'The idea to build an open source car isn't a new one, but you've got to give vehicle design company Riversimple credit for originality. The company plans to unveil its first car in London later this month, a small two-seater that weighs roughly 700 pounds. If you agree to lease one for 20 years (yes, 20), Riversimple will throw in the cost of fuel for the lifetime of the lease...The team decided to release the car's designs under an open source license in order to speed up the time it takes to develop the vehicle while also driving down the cost of its components.'"
Re:700 pounds -- goodbye safety standards! (Score:2, Interesting)
The company plans to unveil its first car in London later this month, a small two-seater that weighs roughly 700 pounds.
A car that will never sell anywhere in the US due to total inability to pass crash safety test. I'm actually surprised that it can be sold anywhere in the first world, to be honest.
I don't see the point of very small cars like this. If I don't need to carry anything I will ride my bike. If I do then I use my big, inefficient van. A small car wouldn't be much use to me because it can't carry much.
Additionally I don't see how people can commit to lease a car like this for 20 years. Surely their lifestyle and requirements will change before then.
Re:HAHAHA (Score:3, Interesting)
Last year I gave my students as an assignment to compare various fuel cell technologies, and also to compare various hydrogen storage technologies. There are many viable alternatives for hydrogen storage, you would be surprised. Even the good-old (but with a modern twist) pressure tanks are now viable.
There are also reformation technologies that create hydrogen on the go, from (for instance) methanol. So you can look at methanol as a hydrogen storage of sorts.
Hydrogen fuel cells is the main topic of my PHD - there's way more life in these little buggers than you'd think. Sure, there was a period of overhype, but I think we went full-circle by now, and there's some solid technology being churned out and reasonable optimism in the research community as well as in industry.
It's not a car, it's a quadricycle (Score:4, Interesting)
It looks similar in size to the G-Wiz [google.com], an all-electric car which can only be legally driven in the UK because it's not classed as a "car", it's a "quadricycle". Quadricycles are basically thought of as a four-wheel motorcycle, so there are almost no safety requirements.
There is little to no chance of these being legal to drive in an US state, other than those that allow "neighborhood vehicles", like golf carts and Japanese Kei-class cars - here in Ilinois you can drive those on streets that have a maximum speed limit of 35 MPH, but no faster.
I especially recommend Clarkson's G-Wiz review [google.com]. The G-Wiz is beaten by a table in the drag race test. Golf carts move faster and are roomier.
Re:20 years?! (stupid gimmick) (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Eh, maybe. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:HAHAHA (Score:3, Interesting)
Sure we can make enough methanol. My colleagues in this superproject are working on that part of the equation as we speak - there are many approaches to producing cheap methanol. Most of them require expensive catalysts, sure, but that's a one-time cost. Unless we are talking about biocatalysts, but those, on the other hand, are (or an be) extremely cheap.
Methanol may very well be the fuel of the future.
Re:700 pounds -- goodbye safety standards! (Score:4, Interesting)
I guess you'll find it isn't actually a car, but it is registered and taxed as a quad bike. A popular electric vehicle in London, the GWiz, is classed as a quad bike.
Re:700 pounds -- goodbye safety standards! (Score:3, Interesting)
Australia has a population density of 2.6/sq. km. The USA has a population density of 31/sq. km.
True, the population of the United States is somewhat concentrated near the coasts, but not nearly to the same extent as in Australia (near the coasts) or Canada (near the southern border).
Quite a few of my friends get around without cars at all - bikes, public transport, motorbikes/scooters, etc.
How well does a bike work in the rain? And how well does public transport work at night, on Sundays, or on national holidays?
Re:20 years?! (stupid gimmick) (Score:3, Interesting)
I bought a used car because I can buy twice the car (performance/safety/features) for half the price of the current model. Not because of CO2 emissions or the price of fuel or being "Green". I wanted a BMW M3 and couldn't afford the current model, but could afford one with 45k miles on it.
You've obviously never tried to convince someone that they should buy a used car. The most common responses I've heard:
"if the car was still good, the previous owner would still be driving it." or
"I don't want someone else's trash." or
"Why don't you wear used clothes?"
"The technology/fuel efficiency/safety/whatever in this years model is better than the previous year...."
Doesn't matter if the car has 20k miles on it and a manufacturers warranty good for up to 75k miles.
Re:700 pounds -- goodbye safety standards! (Score:3, Interesting)
You ride your bike to work in the rain? You were lucky! I used to dream of riding a bike to work in the rain. It beats the hell out of trying to ride a bike to work in -25 C with driving snow and a wind-chill of -60 and exposed flesh freezes in 30 seconds.
Why did I move here?
Drove over 800 miles in last three days (Score:3, Interesting)
I live in the US and we just went for a little trip from Indianapolis to Madison, Wisconsin. Round trip with side ventures and a little driving around Madison came to over 800 miles.
That's just a couple of neighboring states. I drive 30 minutes at 60 MPH to get to work and that is all within city limits. The suburbs and exurbs and much further away.
There's a thought (Score:2, Interesting)
Similar laws could be made today demanding a twenty-year expected lifespan for regular cars, excluding accidents. Since much of the environmental cost associated with a car comes during its manufacture, this would have a distinct ecological benefit. Since the manufacturers don't otherwise have much incentive to build long-lasting cars, preferring to frequently sell short-lived cars, this might end up being the only way to make it happen.
Re:700 pounds -- goodbye safety standards! (Score:3, Interesting)
I've never understood why anyone buys the Smart car. It gets worse gas milage than a used Jetta TDI, has basically zero cargo room and looks ridiculous. For $7000 or less you can get a 50mpg FULL SIZED sedan that will last you to 500k miles.
Or you can spend $15k+ to a Smart car, have no room to haul anything around (much less 5 people if you're so inclined) and get substandard gas milage. The only possible reason I can see to buy a smart car vs a used (or even new) diesel car is because you live somewhere that parking spaces are at a premium and you can somehow shoehorn the Smart into a space that you can't fit a normal sized car into.
Either way, the Smart is a joke. Expensive, too small for real use and crappy gas milage for the size.
Re:700 pounds -- goodbye safety standards! (Score:3, Interesting)
A car that will never sell anywhere in the US due to total inability to pass crash safety test.
This is something that people in the US seem to bring up a lot. You do realise that American cars are incredibly expensive to insure in the UK and EU, because they do so badly in crash tests? A great example is the Hummer H2 - uninsurable in the UK, because if you clip a kerb at anything above parking speeds, you'll die. A friend of mine recently shredded an H2 that had clipped a parked car (Renault Scenic) at about 20mph - the devastating force of the impact left the Scenic pretty badly damaged and destroyed the H2, injuring all four occupants. Instant category A writeoff (must be destroyed right down to the very last nut and bolt, with no parts saved).
Re:700 pounds -- goodbye safety standards! (Score:3, Interesting)
The difference is, you guys have significantly better public transportation infrastructure. I was amazed when I first experienced it, because there is nothing like it on the North American continent.
What we have is crappy because shoddy designs and materials were used to save money, prohibitively expensive to use because it is privately owned and viewed as nothing more than a vehicle to tax the masses, and the people inside are packed into too little space and bombarded with so much propaganda that it's reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange.
Can't believe how many of you lust for the American Lie when your quality of life is so much higher...
Re:700 pounds -- goodbye safety standards! (Score:3, Interesting)
Australia has a population density of 2.6/sq. km. The USA has a population density of 31/sq. km. That means that the US is nearly 1200% more densely populated than Australia
You should probably be looking at the distribution [wikipedia.org] of people rather than bare population density. Good luck finding stats on that, though.
Re:Drove over 800 miles in last three days (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Mod parent up for being a true geek! (Score:4, Interesting)
I hear you, and I bike to work rain or shine (but only 2 miles). Still, there are some serious disadvantages of a bike.
In the rain, it's much harder to see anything than in a car (particularly with glasses), and coat or no coat, it is considerably less comfortable than in a car.
Splash guards take care of the "brown stripe" problem well enough, but you still have to be careful not to get bike grease on your stuff. I've ruined a few pairs of pants by absentmindedly hopping on the bike without pinning up, or by parking the bike and brushing my leg against the chain. Even my hat has some "character"... got greased up while strapped to the rack or in one of the baskets... dunno how exactly. I would not want to ride with a suit.
Carrying capacity is pretty limited, even with rack+baskets+backpack. 30 pounds of groceries for 5 miles, fine, but a CostCo run is out of the question. Furniture, computers etc are also more difficult (I did haul a desk chair once, though). What's more, the lack of suspension makes carrying glass, eggs, etc a risky proposition.
And of course, it makes a long, tiring day full of errands even longer and more tiring.
On the other hand, biking is the only fast way to get around my campus. Parking is hideously expensive, there are bollards all over, and it's too big to walk everywhere. Plus, it helps keep you in shape.