This bike looks like a car from the Toronto Star, Sunday December 2nd."While the notion of a bike wrapped in a sleek body may appeal to some – mostly people who already ride bikes regularly – it's likely that the future of the velomobile lies not in pedal power but in the addition of a small engine. "
Seems someone agrees with me about the future of Velomobiles. The bike shown in the article is the Quest. It sells for around $7,500 excluding freight and duties according to their website.
"For many it will be an expensive toy, for leisure or exercise, not a vehicle for daily commutes to work. "I don't see these becoming a utility tool, not in this particular culture, weaned on cheap gas and big vehicles. In other cultures, especially in Asia, it's more of a possibility," says Londry"
I don't disagree with this guy in the short term. The velomobile I like most (the go-one) goes for around 12 grand. Not something that's going to catch on with the commuter looking for a low cost alternative. However in the medium term, lower cost recumbents with electric assist or even conventional bikes with electric assist will be a viable option for most commuters. The biggest issue that needs to be addressed is secure storage for these bikes once they get to their destinations. Even a relatively inexpensive bike once outfitted with an electric motor becomes a very tasty treat for a bike thief and it's no harder to steal than a regular bike. A full fledged velomobile is a harder target to make off with but it's also worth a lot more so would attract more unwanted attention. You can't just leave a 80 lb. vehicle in a parking lot and expect it to be there 8 hours later. You also can't simply lock a velomobile to a bike rack. Until the issue of security can be solved, widespread use of electric assist bicycles simply will not happen.
"But he does see the velomobile as a step in the evolution of what he calls microvehicles – they're like velomobiles, but have small electric motors and "sex appeal.""
Again, I'm in complete agreement on this. As gas becomes prohibitively expensive, people will begin to realize that driving around a couple of tons of metal doesn't make much sense. If you are ready to rethink your entire mobility strategy then you would also consider the efficiency of the internal combustion engine (ICE) vs. an electric motor. Electric motors are many times more efficient than an ICE and recharging batteries is at least as convenient as refueling a conventional vehicle. Micro-cars will help drive improvements in battery technology as well as get people used to making room on the roads for unconventional vehicles. The line between velomobiles and microcars might blur and eventually converge into a single concept.
velomobility
