Velomobile - History

History

Before World War I, Charles Mochet built a small 4 wheeled bike-car for his son. Mochet built many models of small vehicles called "Velocar". Some models had two seats, most were pedal powered but as the years went by, many were fitted with small engines.

In the 1970s the PPV or People powered vehicle was produced. It was a two seat, "Sociable" tandem with a steel sub frame and molded plastic body. It was actually well designed, and relatively light, though weighing over 50 kg (110 lb)),(a recently restored version weighs 59 kg/130 lb) but had flaws in the execution that doomed it as a practical, every day vehicle. Positive features such as easily adjustable and comfortable seats, independent pedaling for both passenger and driver, adequate cargo space and relatively good weather protection could not overcome the negative features such as a complex, heavy and badly spaced 3 speed gear box, ineffective brakes, and pedals that slid on sleeve bearings on steel shafts which made it difficult to use as an everyday vehicle.

In Sweden a design called Fantom was sold as blueprints and became very popular, over 100,000 copies of the blueprints were sold, but few were actually completed. In the 1980s Fantomen was rediscovered by Carl-Georg Rasmussen who built a redesigned version called Leitra. The downfall of the bicycle car came when economy improved and people chose motorised transport.

All current velomobiles are produced in low volume. The only attempt at a mass-produced velomobile which was in the mid eighties flopped. This was the Sinclair C5. The C5 was a delta trike (one front, two rear wheels) with electric assist designed to be mass-produced and sold for a low price. The C5 was poorly designed; it was heavy, had only one gear and had no adjustment for the distance between the pedals and the seat which is important to get a comfortable pedaling position.

A concept and a potential assessment concerning low-cost velomobiles for daily short trips as well as strategies for reaching a critical lot size for mass production was subject of a research project called RegInnoMobil.

Some velomobiles have been converted to provide electric-assist. Electric assist means that a small battery operated electric propulsion system is provided to assist the driver's leg muscle effort. Most Electric-assist propulsion motors are of the inwheel design, such as the Heinzman electric motor or the Bionx. While an electric-assist unit does add extra weight to the velomobile, it is somewhat offset by the flexibility it also provides, especially during hill climbs.

These have also been used in Australian HPV Super Series since 1985.