Posted on 12/21/2001 7:40:14 AM PST by IowaHawk
Here we go again. Yet another mechanical miracle guaranteed to break the American love affair with the automobile. Following limited success via mass-transit buses and light rail, bicycles, jogging shoes and assorted urban people-movers, we now have the Segway HT as the latest antidote to shatter our century-old habit of relying on the ol flivver in the garage for routine travel.
In case youve missed the rhapsodized coverage of the Segway HT by the elite media which never misses a chance to remind us that our automobiles are our greatest enemy the Segway HT (Human Transport) also known as Ginger is a gadget that can turn a couch potato into an Olympic sprinter with the twist of the wrist. Hey, was that Donovan Bailey crossing the intersection? Naw; Rosie ODonnell on the way to the studio.
Consider that the Segway HT, which looks like your neighbors power mower without the blade and the bag, will haul a normal-sized biped at speeds up to 12.5 mph, which is roughly three times the velocity attained in normal walking. An impressive pace, which can be maintained for up to 17 miles before re-charging the battery.
Its presumably operable by anybody smart enough to grip the handlebars. Lean forward and it moves ahead. The more you lean, the faster you go. Same for reverse. A twist of the hand and the Segway will turn on a dime. It will not tip over. Its all in the gyroscopes and tilt sensors that make up what its creators call Dynamic stabilization.
Dean Kamen, the inventor and leader of the Segway design team headquartered in environmentally aware Manchester, NH, is one bright guy. He holds over 150 patents in the fields of medical devices, climate control systems and helicopter technology. This is his first crack at ground-based transportation, based on the conventional wisdom that the automobile is a lousy people hauler in urban situations where 80% of the worlds population hangs out.
So Kamen, backed by big investors Credit Suisse and First Boston and aligned with industrial giants like Delphi Automotive, IBM, GE Plastics, Michelin, etc. set out to create a device that wont make the car smaller, but the pedestrian larger at least in the context of mobility.
Kamen & Co. reckon that every day Americans drive 1.35 billion miles on trips of five miles or less. If only 10% of those miles were traveled with Segway HTs, maybe 6.2 million gallons of gasoline or 2.6 billion gallons per year would be saved. And of course the environment, air quality, urban space, etc. would also benefit.
Great idea. On the computer screen. Imagine hundreds of thousands of citizens zipping along the sidewalks of Americas major cities on spindly little Segways. A beautiful vision, right? Now think of Beijing or New Delhi, where insect-like swarms of bicycles sluice along the major thoroughfares. Think about the last time you dodged a kid blazing down a big city sidewalk on a 10-speed. Think about the center cities of Athens, Rome and a hundred other European towns where automobiles have been supplanted by screeching mobs of motor scooters. Filthy, noisy, crude little beasts compared to the Segway HT, but similar in theme and mission. And dont think about one-handing a Segway while clutching an umbrella in Seattle or Portland or donning a snowmobile suite for winter travel in Chicago or Boston. And dont think about the added strain on the already-over loaded electrical power grid when millions of Segways plug in for a re-charge every day. (Remember, at the end of every electric-powered-vehicle fantasy stands a smokestack.)
The Segway HT is a thoroughly ingenious device. But so was the General Motors EV1 electric car that turned out to be a hopeless failure. Short range, low power and absurd battery recharging cycles killed it. The Segway may have terrific potential for postal delivery, warehouse mobility, law enforcement, theme park touring, etc. and a bright future in developing countries, although supplanting the lighter, cheaper bicycle and the faster motor scooter may be difficult, especially at a proposed cost of about $3000.00.
The technical brilliance of a concept does not assure success. Example: The Honda Insight hybrid will get over 50 miles per gallon in city driving with ease. It is tiny, quick and nimble. It is the cleanest mass-produced vehicle on earth. Environmentalists celebrated it as a breakout automobile. The media was charmed by it. It is a relatively cheap (about $20,000), reliable, weatherproof, comfortable commuter vehicle. It will run 100 mph on the highway and still get over 40 mpg. It will carry two passengers rather than one. It is the best urban automobile available along with its larger, slower four-seat rival, the Toyota Prius. Yet the Insight, for all its environmental wonderment, has sold only 4,000 units in America this year. But Honda planned on moving 6500 of the little beauties, meaning that on-paper enthusiasm for this environmentally friendly vehicle far surpasses its marketplace appeal.
Were I a member of Mr. Kamens talented team, I would be advising him to take a very hard look at the Honda experience before I geared up for really big production.
Nah! I'll pass! I'm waiting for them to get the transporter up and running.
:~D
I'm thinking a modernized version of Roller Derby.
And that sport was basically about seeing Amazonian-style women -- corn-fed girls, all of them -- smack one another around for essentially no reason.
WBF: World Buzkashi Federation.
Kaymans business plan calls for the Segway to be introduced by post office employees and police. When the public sees them aboard a Segway, they will want one too.
Go to your local park. Look for the 12-14 year olds. Seems they are already aboard scooters. Give them 5 years, send them to college, and good old dad will be buying a Segway instead of a car.
Granted that at $1.25 a gallon for gas, there isn't a great market for the Segway, but at $3-4/gallon, desire goes way up for the short trips.
A quick and dirty cost benefit analysis ( I admit it is dirty, who knows the maintenance cost) makes the post office recoup the cost of the Segway in 4 years.
Geek factor goes down when everybody is dressed like a geek. Look at back packs.
I'm pretty sure that was the pre-release name. It's now the Segway Human Tranporter, or the Segway HT, but never the SHT, for some reason.
I want one for my treadmill.
Y'all need to think before you go around wedgie-fying folks. Some of us have been waiting since our post-high school growth spurt for someone to try that again.
Warp 10 kooky chick identifier: Vespa scooters.
It'll never be popular until someone figures out how to have sex on it.
I'll send your regards to Mrs. Hawk. And I promise not to wedgie-fy Segwayists as long as they're drinking a beer, or have an 8" height advantage.
LOL!
That's probably the biggest reason it'll never sell. Do they really think that cops are gonna want to be rolling down the street in one of these chasing a bad guy? I just don't see that ever happening. This conjures up a similar image as it does when I see grown men riding around in those gas-powered scooters.
It'll never be popular until someone figures out how to have sex on it.That self-balancing capability could be just the thing! Now I wonder how much weight the handlbars will bear...
Coming up in the news: mixed randy couple lands in ER for misc-Segway-nation mishap.
I suggest, "No."
Yes, and a Segway is a significant step forward compared to a bicycle. It's much heavier, vastly more expensive, slower, has a much shorter range, is harder to repair, will be more expensive to maintain, can be used on fewer surfaces, has no legal rights to the roadway, is harder to store, and provides no exercise!
Sorry Mitch, I don't mean to harsh on you in particular. I'm still giggling about all of the hype surrounding this exorbitant electric scooter.
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