Car, golf cart, ATV, wheelchair, electric bike, "hoverboard", horseless carriage, horseback riding and everything between and near them all have their uses and niches that should be identified better

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Car is not the same as horseless carriage: There is a niche for slow 3 to 10 km/h silent travel with a vehicle that has 100 cm diameter 5cm thick rigid wheels. It is for situations where movement is not just a means to get from A to B, but also a chance to view surroundings on the route. Also, the terrain can be rough and covered in snow. That is about the same niche as riding horseback. Having any kind of combustion engine for that would defeat the purpose. It has to be lithium-ion battery or fuel cell with electric motors on each wheel. Below certain velocity, rubber on wheels is not that important, especially with good suspension (which original horse carriages lacked). Horse carriage wheels were made of wood. Some wheels had iron on ground contact. When starting rigid wheel design from scratch, aluminum is better because it is harder than rubber or wood and stronger per weight than wood or iron.

This kind of carriage would be more energy efficient than car and lighter for same capacity.

Having computer controlled autonomous drive would increase it's usefulness more than with a car.

Submitted October 31, 2017 at 10:55AM by herkato5 http://ift.tt/2ihHTVu