I'll offer some industry partner advice.
It's already been done (since the 1950's)
and with much better visual appeal. &width=645)
Posted on 05/16/2024 9:16:46 AM PDT by Red Badger
“Where do you put the groceries and how is it in snow?”
Where do you put groceries on a bicycle ,motorcycle or tuk tuk? That’s the mode of transportation these are intended to replace, and the single person in a sedan or suv crossover in a dense urban core of a city. Think Central London like the article said they were specificity designed for or midtown Manhattan. Same for downtown and uptown New Orleans or the Federal district in DC. 25 mph speed limits in every one of those. Two have $20+ per trip entry congestion charges. Parking in NYC or Central London is $75+ per parking no in and out. The article said there is a boot in the back for cargo how much groceries does a single person need from the bodega a mile or two away in Brooklyn or the package shope on the corner of every street in London? These are not for suburbs, not for highways,not for family grocery getter runs. They are for bumper to bumper gridlock in 5 mph urban cores with a single person who would have walked, rode a ebike or escooter, summoned an uber or cab. The whole point is in those dense urban cores you can fit FOUR of these in the footprint of a xover or SUV which has no business being in that urban core in the first place. You can nose in park four to a meter spot and they would as quad CYCLES be allowed to use dedicated bike lanes which NYC and London are full of totally separated from other traffic and photo enforced with a hefty fine for any other vehicle in them. It’s like people can’t process the idea that most of the world’s population lives in high density cities and that number is growing every day. You cannot build enough roads the transportation density must increase. Be that busses, subways, two wheelers like all of Asia today. Tuk tuks again like all of Asia. Quads allow for fully enclosed transport with heat or A.C. At one forth the size of a sedan or SUV. London’s congestion charges are very effective and NYC’s will be as well. What used to take 3 to 4 hours in London is now down to 1.5 and the tariffs go up the more traffic it gets. These are not intended at all for suburbs or flyover country they will never see a motorway as they are not licenced to be on them in the EU , Asia or here they would be a LSV federally limited to roads of 30mph or less speed limits or in some states 25mph or less. So no they would never meet a pickup truck speeding down the motorway. In downtown Manhattan you are lucky to average 5mph anywhere on that island from 5 am till 10 pm.
And it's a guarantee that they won't be stopping at the dry cleaners or grocery store on the way home or taking a client out to lunch.....
I'll offer some industry partner advice.
It's already been done (since the 1950's)
and with much better visual appeal.
Sigh it must be a boomer thing to not.understand how real world class megacities work. If you are taking a client out you use that picked supercomputer and summon a Uber Black that comes and takes you door to door. The point of quads is not ownership very few other than the super rich own cars in NYC, Tokyo ,London or Madrid it’s outside the price range of the middle classes by design. These are for single rider who would have in most of those cities ebiked, escooter or walked to a subway or bus. These are for rentals like a bird,uber erentals ect. The whole point is four fit in the space of a single meter spot or lane. Most people in the cities are going a few miles to work it out to eat hardly anyone cooks in tiny urban apartments why when you have thousands of restaurants, food street vendors and cafes in every corner in a megacity. Most city dwellers are also single or no kids so they are not doing ten bag Costco runs at best it’s a walk or bike to the bodega on the corner for a days worth of food. Tell me you haven’t ever lived in NYC or London w/o telling me you haven’t. I don’t know anyone of my friends in Brooklyn or midtown that own a car if they need a car they Turo or Uber or enterprise which has two offices in midtown and you take the car out of Manhattan nit bring it in and try to drive and park it for $75+ a spot.
What part of these are for single user point to point transport out of the elements while quadrupling density is so hard to understand. They are not meant to be a one size fits all , they are for the most use case and that in urban cores is a single user going a few miles with little to no payload other than the person. Who would have taken a two wheeler in most of those cities in the rain,heat or cold. In a quad it’s enclosed and yes it has a boot for packages more than enough space for a signal persons bodega run.
The only use case that makes sense is NYC or London or Hanoi or Tokyo levels of density where the middle class is priced out by design of the car markets. Those cities cost a fortune to drive a POV. Stack these up 4 to a spot and rent them by the minute like a Bird ebike. Drop it off a few miles down the road and walk away for the next user to have it. That is the difference between then and now. With real time 5G data and GPS the tracking, rental and return of an asset is as easy as scan a qr code it opens and starts,.drive the three miles you could’ve walked in the rain and scan the code again to return it. The app and data links are the secret sauce. Ebikes & Escooters are everywhere and so easy to use. The younger generations use them natively now it would be an embarrassment to not know how to use a Uber or Bird.
I'm way past "boomer" stage kid. Far enough ahead to know that those bean shells will never work in our cities, no matter how "mega" they become.
As far as your NY traffic speed, you in your bean shell are still stuck in the same traffic as the dude in his air conditioned SUV. And I might add, his SUV, while only creeping along at 5 MPH, next to your bean shell, will be a hell of a lot more efficient when you're driving thru 5 inches of snow.
I don’t know anyone of my friends in Brooklyn or midtown that own a car
If anyone can afford to live in midtown Manhattan, then you can afford to own and park a car.
You and your friends sound like classic, mid town metro sexuals who can't get by without your Starbucks Latte' and all this BS about your support of these bean cars is nothing but virtue signaling.......
I'm heading up north in my own personal car this weekend and maybe next week I'll take a trip to Ohio.........
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