[Velomobile] Velomobile design

[David M. Eggleston]

Hi Giles,

  You make a good point. We have the same problem in the States, although 
the Consumer Products Safety Commission allows up to 1 HP motors for assist, 
as long as the speed is limited to be less than or equal to 20 mph. That 
makes this a national standard. I believe this standard resulted from 
substantial lobbying by electric bike companies.
I understand that California allows motors up to 2 HP and speeds up to 30 
mph, although you need to have a driver's license to qualify. As a practical 
matter, no governmental bodies seem to be interested in enforcing these 
speeds or power levels, so they only have the effect of limiting what 
manufacturers can sell. Otherwise it is likely nobody would notice 
violations of this law unless lawyers got involved.

David

-----Original Message----- 
From: Giles Puckett
Sent: Friday, January 06, 2012 7:25 PM
To: David M. Eggleston ; velomobile at hupi.org
Subject: Re: [Velomobile] Velomobile design

On 4/01/2012 5:02 AM, David M. Eggleston wrote:
[lots of interesting stuff snipped]

Thanks David, I concur with all your points. There's one other that
might not be uppermost in the minds of people in the USA, but probably
more so in Europe and Australia: inconsistency of laws relating to
power-assist. Here in Australia we have a lot of hilly country, coupled
with brain-snappingly stupid power restrictions (now 200W peak - with
the possibility of 250W plus pedelec and speed limits soon!)

Any velo is so much heavier than a bicycle that it needs all the help it
can get uphill - that's where the average speed of any bicycle trip is
determined, so how much more so for a velo. My own homebuilt attempts at
streamlining certainly got me to the bottom of the next hill much
faster, which was fun as long as it lasted, but took me twice as long to
get up to the top again!

So lobbying for reasonable power limits and restrictions of these things
is paramount in places that limit them unreasonably. The present laws in
Oz seem to be specifically designed to prevent practical
car-alternatives from ever being built.

G.