<DrumBeat: February 5, 2008 The Oil Drum Science 1101 Part 1: The Science of Oil and Peak Oil>

87 comments on The Tata Nano Strikes Back--Does Jevons' Paradox Apply to Productivity, Too?

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Black_Dog on February 5, 2008 - 2:36pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Years ago, I built a shell around a small motorcycle, trying to achieve high MPG. The first time I took it on the road, I almost wrecked it as it tended to "fish tail" as speed increased. The aerodynamics were such that it was unstable, that is, it tended to deviate away from motion in a straight line as speeds increase. My solution was to add a vertical tail, which made the thing hard to handle in cross winds or when passing or being passed by trucks. Dump trucks were especially difficult to deal with.

I think it's important to point out that the VentureOne machine is likely to be a very dangerous machine to operate. This is the result of having the center of mass located toward the rear, while having a rather large area exposed to aerodynamic forces ahead of the center or mass. The result would likely be loss of control at high speeds due to cross winds, just as I experienced with my machine. The graphic sure looks cool, though.

The Myers NmG might be a little better, if the batteries are located ahead of the front wheels. They claim a speed of 75 oh for the Myers, so I assume that they have already tested these to find out whether they are stable or not.

E. Swanson

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Will Stewart on February 5, 2008 - 2:50pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Take a look at these prototype VentureOne videos where the bike is being tested by Top Gear and the like; I believe your concerns will be addressed.

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Cslater8 on February 5, 2008 - 3:00pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I use to ride motorcycles too and I agree, the 'Venture' would be dangerous. If someone owned a place out on the California coast near Bodega Bay, the road north from there would be perfect for that little roadster. But for any other roads, even beyond aerodynamics, my concern would be other vehicles not seeing me. When I use to ride a regular 2 wheel motorcycle I found one had to ride very defensively because other people simply do not see bikes as well as other cars. Now with all these huge SUV's the problem is compounded even more. A nice idea, but too impractical due to safey issues.

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Will Stewart on February 5, 2008 - 3:51pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

See the videos mentioned in the previous post, especially where the prototypes are driven through busy traffic. If we gauge every mitigation by how it will compare against large SUVs, we end up in a situation where we always revert back to a larger vehicle than would have been helpful. Your argument could be used to discourage even bike commuting, for example, so the fallacy of SUVs always being safer falls flat when we hit the downslope of PO.

I was told my tiny Honda Insight would be crushed by large SUVs the first year (and I live in an area with LOTS of them), but I'm in my 8th year with it with nary a scratch (granted, I've vanpooled alot when not zipping around on consulting engagements). As gas prices go higher, or as the recession deepens, we'll be seeing lighter traffic anyway.

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LarryCO on February 5, 2008 - 4:23pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Go watch "The World's Fastest Indian".

Putting a shell on your motorcycle is not a good idea unless you really know what you are doing.

However, those 2 vehicles looked like tricycles to me.

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87 comments on The Tata Nano Strikes Back--Does Jevons' Paradox Apply to Productivity, Too?

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