NoVelo Human Powered Vehicle
Student designer Tim Turrini-Rochford has created the NoVelo zero-emissions vehicle for the Australian Design Awards sponsored by James Dyson. The machine powers itself by human movement with electric power reserves when needed, which aims to “encourage more people to adopt low impact transportation technology”.
A major issue, according to Turrin-Rochford, is the idea that “people have now come to regard the car as integral to their humanity”. His solution? To create “a low impact transportation alternative that offers many of the perceived benefits of automobiles, something with the style of an automobile with the footprint of a bike.” While this sentiment is difficult to achieve it is generally the appeal of the eco-product that makes the difference. Not to say that the Prius is an attractive vehicle by any means, but the mass celebrity endorsement made it attractive. You may not see Johnny Depp cruising around in a NoVelo any time soon but, instead, the vehicle’s design speaks for itself.
My design, ‘Novelo’ uses a parallelogram linkage that allows the vehicle to tilt through corners. A small movement of the steering handles turns the front wheels that in turn changes the weight distribution and cases the vehicle to tilt. When the steering is centred the vehicle returns upright. This results in Novelo being able to corner faster and with more stability than current velomobiles, as well as having a much smaller turning circle. The tilting mechanism allows the centre of gravity to be higher, resulting in a vehicle which is more visible to other road users and hence safer.
The top speed is 50kph and holds a 300watt hub monitor. The fairing is manufactured from a sandwich of Kevlar, flax fibre and foam honeycomb. Kevlar is used for its impact absorbing characteristics and flax as a renewable alternative to carbon fibre.
Sources: Student Design Awards | Ecofriend
Great post, fascinating design. My issue with this is that the passenger has to pedal. This is great if they are looking for a bike experience, but as a viable car-replacement, what sort of energy expenditure is the driver undergoing? Do his legs get sore? Are there plans to increase the speed-limit? What about two-seaters? Is there room for sat-nav and air-con?
Hi Bono, Thanks for your thoughts. The vehicle has a 300watt hub monitor which means that it has electric power when the user is tired or is experiencing tricky terrain (e.g. uphill). Admittedly, the vehicle would not serve as a car replacement, electric cars would do that job, but this would provide a healthy hybrid (excuse the pun) of biking and motoring. The speed limit is competitive with small electric cars such as the G-Wiz (which actually has a top speed of 50mph) and blows a regular biker out of the water in terms of pace. As for air-con, that would potentially defeat the point and efficiency of the vehicle and it is doubtful that it would be installed as standard if this were to ever make production. I hope this helped!
Great post, fascinating design. My issue with this is that the passenger has to pedal. This is great if they are looking for a bike experience, but as a viable car-replacement, what sort of energy expenditure is the driver undergoing? Do his legs get sore? Are there plans to increase the speed-limit? What about two-seaters? Is there room for sat-nav and air-con?
Hi Bono, Thanks for your thoughts. The vehicle has a 300watt hub monitor which means that it has electric power when the user is tired or is experiencing tricky terrain (e.g. uphill). Admittedly, the vehicle would not serve as a car replacement, electric cars would do that job, but this would provide a healthy hybrid (excuse the pun) of biking and motoring. The speed limit is competitive with small electric cars such as the G-Wiz (which actually has a top speed of 50mph) and blows a regular biker out of the water in terms of pace. As for air-con, that would potentially defeat the point and efficiency of the vehicle and it is doubtful that it would be installed as standard if this were to ever make production. I hope this helped!
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