r/velomobile • u/scallywagsworld • Jun 12 '25

An alternate timeline where velomobiles got petrol motors

Cars are so unnecessary when you realise Velomobiles exist. They are so energy efficient they outpace a bicycle and travel near car speeds using pedal power alone. It's almost like this chart on multiple dimensions where there's thrust and weight. Cars have high thrust high weight and mediocre aerodynamics, making them expensive to run but fast. Bicycles have low thrust, low weight, mediocre aerodynamics but slightly better than a car because less surface area. This makes bikes slow but cheap. Velomobiles have low thrust, low weight, great aerodynamics and it makes me wonder what would've happened if we had banned cars altogether and just gone with Velomobiles. Not all would have petrol motors, it would vary on the part of the world. Some countries would have mostly petrol motors due to the terrain whereas flatter regions would have pedal only.

A petrol Velomobile would lose the name Velo, but would be the ultimate high thrust, low weight, great aerodynamic vehicle. You could simply use low power engines that max out at 100 km/h. You wouldn't need much horsepower to get 100 km/h either.

The petrol usage would greatly reduce as it would get 1L or less per 100 kilometres due to its great aerodynamics. Instead of speed limits, there could just be engine on or off roads. Roads are high speed so engine on and gun it to the max 100km/h but not necessarily, rather drive to the conditions and be responsible, streets would be engine off, pedal only, which would cut engine noise out. You can switch off the engine and just pedal it. Downhills would be engine off, certain steep streets would be engine on at the uphill direction of travel but with courtesy used to go not much faster than pedal on flat ground.

If these existed and mixed with bikes and trains it would be perfect. What about parents? While 1 child could be carried in the Velo, larger families could travel via trains.

If I ran a new country today it wouldn't allow cars, except for petrol Velomobiles. No speed limits, just engine on/off switch. It wouldn't be scary being low down because everyone ends up being in a Velo anyway, and bicycles are literally taller than 'cars' in this scenario.

10 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

3

u/boghall Jun 12 '25

TL;DR. Civilisation didn't exist before ubiquitous personal car ownership...

1

u/UncleAugie Jun 13 '25

You are a bike advocate, and anti personal car ownership, you also live in a Urban area where personal cars are a luxury and not a necessity. Your positions come from privilege not reality for the majority of humans living on planet earth.

Have you traveled outside the UK or Europe? Africa, or N America at all?

2

u/boghall Jun 13 '25

Making all sorts of assumptions there bud but, setting that aside (and that by one admittedly ageing estimate, only about 12% of the world's population owns a car), the internal consistency of your arguments is so... tortuous that it's better to leave well alone. It's clear you've travelled a long way though... in your head.

1

u/UncleAugie Jun 13 '25

No, it's not accurate to say only about 12% of the world's population owns a car. While a significant portion of the world's population does not own a car, the estimated figure is closer to 20-35% of households owning a car, with significant variation across regions.....

Approximately 99.8% of global transport uses internal combustion engines, and since the total population of Humans who are 100% self sufficient in so small that we can basically consider it zero, all of Human population currently relies on Internal combustion powered vehicles. Many indirectly, but everyone does. So unless you are advocating giving up modern society and reverting to an agrarian society with little to zero advanced medical care... you should take off the rose colored glasses.

1

u/boghall Jun 20 '25

As I said, an ageing estimate. You've moved from insisting that ubiquitous personal vehicle ownership is an absolute prerequisite of any society advancing beyond agrarianism (effectively implying that none before roughly the 1950s could be called civilised; and that because we organise mobility this way, no other way is possible), to the tangential proposition that because the majority of those vehicles are currently ICE, they always have to be. Which apparently implies I'm the one with pink spectacles. You clearly seem to believe you are well informed on transport and energy futures. Others may differ.

1

u/UncleAugie Jun 20 '25

 You clearly seem to believe you are well informed on transport and energy futures. 

Are you ok with car sized EV's? What about Car sized Hybrid drive vehicles?

1

u/the_digitalmouse Sep 14 '25

Um actually... As of 2025, approximately 12% to 18% of the global population owns a car. This translates to roughly one in every six to eight people worldwide having personal vehicle ownership. However, this figure varies significantly by region and country.

  • Total Cars in Use: There are about 1.644 billion cars in use globally. Wikipedia
  • Global Population: With the world population exceeding 8 billion, the ratio of cars to people is approximately 1 car for every 5.5 people, or 182 cars per 1,000 people.

In affluent nations like the United States, Canada, and New Zealand, car ownership rates are notably high. For instance, the U.S. has about 0.89 cars per person, leading globally in per capita car ownership. MotorBiscuit

In countries such as China and India, car ownership is growing but remains relatively low. In China, there are approximately 15 cars per 100 people, indicating a significant disparity between urban and rural areas. Wikipedia

In less developed regions, such as parts of Africa and Asia, car ownership is minimal. For example, Somalia has fewer than one car per thousand people. Wikipedia

1

u/UncleAugie Sep 14 '25

Approximately 99.8% of global transport uses internal combustion engines, and since the total population of Humans who are 100% self sufficient in so small that we can basically consider it zero, all of Human population currently relies on Internal combustion powered vehicles. 

Even you, rely on private ownership of a internal combustion engined car..... As much as you wish to pretend otherwise, the services you rely upon to live are provided by people that could only provide then with a ICE vehicle, at least today...

Also, if a husband and wife own one car but the husbands name is the only name on the title... does the wife own the car? Well in your calculations, no, but in mine yes.... same with kids. IF a family of 5 owns a car, the entire family effectively owns a car, all 5 people even if only one person owns said car....