Talk:Open Source Car
The pusher trailer concept is good, and exactly what I was thinking regarding making bicycles generally useful for virtually all around town travel during favorable weather. Good examples of what a bike trailer can carry are shown at http://www.bikesatwork.com/ -- but note the heavier items are only practical on flat land, not any hill or mountain country. Therefore, a little electric assist setup on the trailer, with regenerative braking ability, would be ideal to extend this utility to everywhere, and works with virtually all existing bikes, (although my recumbent BikeE would need a custom hitch). Ability to charge on the go with a solar panel or fuel cell could be a bonus for longer trips. --Jeb
Personal Rapid Transit (PRT)
Have you guys seen this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_rapid_transit
It would be great to see an open source PRT system someday.
Elifarley 02:41, 26 December 2009 (UTC)
PRT would be lovely, but it's a large-scale infrastructural project, not a grassroots one like the ones here. It does seem like about the best form of transport ever. There's a planned city in Qatar or one of those Gulf states that uses PRT.--Conor 03:58, 8 November 2010 (UTC)
Bucky Fuller's Dymaxion car. Expired patent (i.e. public domain design) and the pictures to go with it. Extremely aerodynamic. Extremely manoeuvrable because of a single wheel at the back that steers and two wheels at the front that drive. Very economic use of materials, allowing an excellent strength-to-weight ratio.
RiverSimple's HyrBan seems ideal. It is a planned hydrogen fuel cell car. It features a carbon fiber monocoque, in-wheel motors and 240 mile range. It is powered by ultracapacitors (for fast power) and hydrogen fuel cells (for energy storage). Prototypes have already been made. CAD files of the body are available here. I think it's still being tweaked, but should be in production quite soon.