187 comments on The Post Peak Car
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187 comments on The Post Peak Car
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Actually, a normal person can produce 100 watts for maybe several hours, and even up to 300 for a short burst. Supermen can put out near a kW for seconds. (D.G..Wilson, Bicycling Science, MIT Press). And of course, as you say, pedaling is a real good way to provide warmth on cold days, not to mention, keeping fit!
Now, all this concept needs is my super-duper automatic transmission that allows a constant high speed light motor to match torque demand at any road speed, and we have a winner.
Thanks, Ugo, for a fascinating and very well-written offering. I am enthused!
If by "normal" you mean fit young male, then yes. For the rest of us, sustaining 100W for several hours is an unattainable goal ;)
Fit young European, actually, "Fit" young Americans- seems the right number is maybe 70 watts.
Another observation- when I was a kid slaving away on my father's farm, a sack of feed was 100lbs. I could carry one of them, and some guys carried two at once. Nowadays, a sack of feed is about 40lbs, and people gripe about too heavy.
I figure the evolutionary destiny for homosapiens is a speck of an eyeball glued to a PV powered TV set orbiting the sun. The TV is showing Tarzan reruns.
A sack of cement used to be about 100 pounds (50 kg) when I was a kid. Today they are about 50 pounds (25 kg). Guess if people complain about the weight?
People are getting weaker, fatter and dumber by the minute here in Sweden too. I guess the same is true for the rest of Europe. Sweden might be the most "americanized" country in the EU though.