Twike battery-powered car
If even a Prius isn't energy-efficient enough for you, maybe this'll be more to your liking. The Twike runs on rechargeable NiCd (NiMH) batteries and will carry two passengers along at speeds up to 80 kilometers per hour (55mph), with a range of 80km per charge. You can actually even extend that an extra 30% with its "hybrid pedal power adaptation", a technology first pioneered by Prof. Flintstone. When it runs out of juice you simply plug it into a regular household socket for about two hours. No word yet on when you'll be able to get your hands on one, or how much it'll cost, but four Twike's are currently on a cross-continent trek (we're guessing Europe) to show off the energy-saving technology.
[Via Treehugger]
Filed under: Transportation
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Alex Murenko @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM
This thing is pretty stupid... imagine crashing at 55mph? Even at 40! You're the fish in a barrel, and everyone has a gun.
Karl @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM
Why do people think battery powered cars are a good Idea? Where do you think the power to make those cars move is coming from. They come from coal,oil,gas and nucleur power plants that must use more fuel to power you battery car there by putting more waste out. hybrids on the other hand are completly self contanded requiring no outside power sourse.
Kevin Archibald @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM
Wow, i saw this yesterday! on the road, near my house in Dundas, Ontario, Canada. I thought it said "Twinkie", not "Twike"- which i thought was kind of clever based on what the thing looked like.
Matthew Crenshaw @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM
hybrids use gasoline which isn't great, and hydrogen powered cars get their hydrogen by using electricity for electrolosys right? i'd say get a bicycle, but i just got hit by a car and it broke my collar bone...so idn, sit at home and save the world!
Jayson Elliot @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM
Spoilsports.
I love it. The idea of augmenting the power in your vehicle with your own pedaling is so blindingly obvious, I don't know why it hasn't happened before. I've shown this to several people at work, and everyone wants one.
Energy efficient, attractive, easy to park, and you can exercise while you commute.
eli @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM
Karl said "hybrids on the other hand are completly self contanded requiring no outside power sourse."
soooo, you don't have to put gasoline into a hybrid vehicle? Because I could have sworn that you did. [/sarcasm]
Alexander @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM
The Twike comes originally from Switzerland. In fact, my current boss was one of the main VC guys behind the project. I drove it myself a couple of times... both, the older version, Twike.YOU (your picture depicts it), and a prototype of the newer Twike.ME. Unfortunately, the company who started the project (Swisslem) went bankrupt so I have no idea who is now behind the Twike. Fact is, there are certainly more then just 4 Twikes running around in Europe; my boss alone has still two of the Twike.YOU in his garage. The price for the Twike.YOU was around 25.000 Swiss Francs at the time Swisslem was still around (2002/03), which is probably one of the reasons why noone was interested... simply too expensive. Another problem was battery technology; the battery ran out of juice too quickly for this vehicle to make any economical sense.
Tom @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM
"They come from coal,oil,gas and nucleur power plants that must use more fuel to power you battery car there by putting more waste out."
There are more environmentally friendly ways of generating electricity such as water, wind and solar. Not everyone uses them, but we should see a steady progression towards that kind of energy.
tiexano @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM
This is old. I mean _OLD_. They made the first prototype 1986 and it's on sale since *1996*.
Trae Shaw @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM
Pebble Nuclear Reactors are less harsh on ecosystems then dams.
Shaun @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM
"The idea of augmenting the power in your vehicle with your own pedaling is so blindingly obvious, I don't know why it hasn't happened before."
Sinclair C5, Zeta, any number of electric bikes, various ancient french bikes with motors on the front wheel....
It's not new.
You'd have thought with a name like Flintstone the Prof. would have just stuck his bare feet out the bottom of the car.
dmurray14 @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM
Then a normal sized car comes along and BAM! Not much of the little twike left, huh?
dave @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM
But can I get one with AC?
Gregorio @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM
"They come from coal,oil,gas and nucleur power plants that must use more fuel to power you battery car there by putting more waste out."
Well, about 90% of electricity in my country is water generated.
"Then a normal sized car comes along and BAM! Not much of the little twike left, huh?"
I guess, but Ive used a motorcycle everyday for 15 years and Im still in a single piece, just be carefull.
"I have no idea who is now behind the Twike"
FineMobile??? Who are they?
Jan @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM
Actually this is pretty old news. The "cars" are Swiss made, here is the manufacturer's web site:
http://www.twike.com/
I know about at least three of these here around Lausanne and they are manufactured for a few years already.
Curt @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM
Looks like the twike is ~20k CHF / ~15.3k USD according to www.twike.ch looks like they have been around at least since '98.
re: number #4, there are _bikes_ that have motors and petals, these probably are even more efficient depending on weight/friction. There are even foldable ones. Definately afordable. I believe they have caught on in china.
Don't know much about them but here's a few googled random ones..
http://www.evglobal.com/
http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/Albatross/Small/ECN-13413.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_powered_vehicle
www.electricvehiclesnw.com
www.iscweb.com/bikepower
As for saving the energy many motorcycles are significant improvement over cars/suv, although the prius may actually compete(?). A bike's height and noise may be a safety improvement over the Twike. Or you could put petals on a typical car for quite the workout with the order of magnitude more weight/energy needed.
Max SMoke @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM
That's fine for Europe, but no good for US roads. You can't measure the fuel efficiency of a tiny vehicle like that after it's been pancaked by some brain-dead soccer mom in a massive SUV. Seriously, I can hear the sickening sound of twisted metal and broken bone now, as some irate woman is busy yelling at her kids to Shut-Up in the back of her road monster.
Ian Wood @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM
What it needs is a folding solar panel charger: ride it to work, charge it back up for the trip home while it sits in the parking lot.
Though...with an 18AH battery, you'd need...lessee...somewhere around 16 square feet of panels...which would weigh about 20 pounds.
Scratch that; what we need is a full-spectrum solar sell, and THEN we'll attach it to the Twike.
Glynne Jones @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM
The bodyshell looks like something from the 1950's...
For a 21st century design of the same concept... check out the awesome Aerorider from Holland
http://www.aerorider.com
Kapila Wimalaratne @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM
New or not (I'd never heard of it before), I think
the idea is remarkable - a cross between a bike, motorcycle and car.
Anyone have an idea of how stable it is to drive? (i.e. Safer than a motorcycle?)
Kap
P.S. Of course, I'll have to wait a BILLION years for such a vehicle to make it to Australia. :-(
Justin @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM
Neat in concept but BLAH in praticallity. I mean come on, it says the top speed is 55mph but HOW LONG does it take to get up there? Also it will NEVER come to the US cause there is no way to hold up to the crash standards (and at that price your better off in a go cart.) Also wait till you see your power bill the first time you charge it from your wall... im not exactly sure of the conversions and everything but thats a hell of a lot of kw/hr to charge it up to be able to get it to go 80km with a 500lb load... money should be spent on a way to burn grain alcohol more efficiently in small cars, that would save the earth better, or better yet use the french fry grease powered diesel engines i saw on the news yesterday LOL
Nikoooo @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM
Well, that car was born near Bern in Switzerland (as written before). So guess why it is not made for the US :D
There are still some running here in the city and I can ensure you that it is pretty stable and speedy. The best is maybe that owners are parking their Twike on bicycles parking lots... thus not paying anything!
Dman @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM
It's a nice velo but I like the Go-One better
http://www.go-one.de/ukindex.shtml
Complete with an 800w electric motor.
Butter @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM
...four Twikes are currently on a cross-continent twek...
SwissFreek @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM
I remember seeing these things around Europe (Sitzerland to be exact) about 7 or 8 years ago. In Bern I noticed they actually had parking spaces for them with power outlets that you could plug into. I also remember seeing them on some Science shows around here. These things were like, the post-solar, pre-hybrid, pre-hydrogen green car.
tim @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM
Make sure to note from the sight:
"Piloting a TWIKE is blindingly easy!"
So easy you go blind...
tim
joseph kioko makau @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM
I am a fresh graduate from the University of Nairobi with a Bsc in Environmental Engineering and very much interested on the design of an electrical car. Your consideration to train me on the basics will be very much welcome and hopefully will contribute towards the design. Waiting hopefully to here from your side
Joseph Kioko Makau,
P. O. Box 60148-00200,
Nairobi
tel +254721411610