DailyDirt: Crazy Cars That No One Drives

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

We're on the verge of a transportation revolution with autonomous cars and electric vehicles about to become mainstream means of mobility. Various concept cars make the future of transportation look more bubble-shaped or like spandex, so the roads are really going to look a bit crazy if we allow 40-year-old muscle cars to drive along with surviving K-cars and futuristic-looking Tron-like hypercars. Check out a few more crazy cars that aren't quite practical in the links below. After you've finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.
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Filed Under: a888 limo, checker cab, concept cars, electric cars, hybrid cars, hypercars, rimono


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  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 21 Jun 2016 @ 5:52pm

    Compressed air cars for the Amish......

    Compressed air cars makes sense for people who refuse to use electicity...... as long as the compressors are run on biodiesel

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 21 Jun 2016 @ 6:13pm

    Two more crazy cars

    The Rimono reminded me of this, the PodCycle. Technically a bike with electric motor assist, but close enough.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lKq1fGtXFM

    The Peel P50, the smallest production car in the world!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJfSS0ZXYdo

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Roger Strong (profile), 21 Jun 2016 @ 11:27pm

    Vapor

    > ...and the other companies haven't said a word on when (or whether) their air cars will be ready.

    Sure they have. In 1998 MDI announced that Mexico City had purchased a fleet of 40,000 compressed air taxis, hitting the streets in two years.

    Here they are in 2000 announcing production in South Africa. There were already two factories in France, with the first models expected on the streets later that year. There were also five factories planned for Mexico and Spain, with three in Australia.

    They actually had a factory running in Italy with 90 employees from 2003 to 2005. Except that employees were "paid" via state benefits - a payroll to employees who, for special reasons due to the employers, are unable to perform their jobs. No cars were ever built by the factory.

    Those examples were already well into their grand tour of the planet, with other production deals announced before and since in many other countries.

    As the first link mentions, they weren't so much selling cars as they were selling priority rights ($300,000) for investors to invest MORE money into the franchised turnkey factories that MDI would soon be selling.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    scatman, 22 Jun 2016 @ 7:17am

    pink elephant

    electric motors are efficient in stop and go city traffic...
    diesel motors are efficient in highway traffic...
    When will we see a diesel-electric hybrid for sell in the US?
    Correction: Will big oil companies and bought politicians ever allow diesel-electric hybrids to be sold to the public in the US?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 22 Jun 2016 @ 8:46am

      Re: pink elephant

      > Correction: Will big oil companies and bought politicians ever
      > allow diesel-electric hybrids to be sold to the public in the US?

      Because diesel-electric hybrids are so popular in europe and the rest of the world?

      Wait, there aren't any diesel-electric hybrids in europe and the rest of the world?

      Those darn oil companies.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Ninja (profile), 24 Jun 2016 @ 8:06am

        Re: Re: pink elephant

        I believe there are such cars. But for emissions sake it doesn't make much sense. You don't need the torque diesel offers to move an electric engine and gasoline/ethanol ones are better in higher speeds (where the electric engines become less competitive). An hybrid approach seems pretty reasonable. I still would like to see fuel-cell cars using standard hydrocarbons instead of hydrogen. You already have the infra-structure to support such cells, much easier to make it scale.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    scatman, 22 Jun 2016 @ 1:11pm

    pink elephant

    pick up a clue, Anonymous Coward. Oil companies are international, and thus, have influence in other countries too. The US isn't the center of the universe.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Peter Wilson, 13 Mar 2019 @ 5:36am

    I think that if a person refuses to drive a car then there is something wrong with the car itself. Maybe it is a stolen one, who knows. That's why you should do a VIN check at https://www.faxvin.com/vin-check/audi when you get a car. Believe me, it will come in handy and will provide you with all the info that you need to know about your car.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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