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EEVblog #501 - Sinclair C5 Electric Car Teardown & Test Drive
Posted by
EEVblog
on 30 Jul, 2013 23:20
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Dave goes back to the future and takes a 1985 vintage Sinclair C5 electric "car" for a spin, one of only a handful in the country. This was Sir Clive Sinclair's vision for personal transport.
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#1 Reply
Posted by
senso
on 30 Jul, 2013 23:36
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This video is private.
Sorry about that.
Just to warn you Dave.
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#2 Reply
Posted by
ataradov
on 31 Jul, 2013 00:01
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I've managed to start watching before it was private. Cool device, but I would be very much afraid to be ran over in this thing
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#3 Reply
Posted by
ivan747
on 31 Jul, 2013 00:51
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It's public again
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#4 Reply
Posted by
KTP
on 31 Jul, 2013 01:11
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Now you can put a 1000 watt hub motor and 15 pounds of LiPo batteries on a recumbent tadpole trike and go 55mph...still have the issue of getting hedghogged though...
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#5 Reply
Posted by
ivan747
on 31 Jul, 2013 02:28
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I want one of those! There's just something fascinating about this little vehicle that makes me like it.
It's so simple, barebones. It reminds me of an airplane, the Piper J3 Cub:
I also want one of those
There's something fascinating about their simplicity. The J3 has been in service for 70 years and I am sure this Sinclair car would have been if the time was right and it caught on.
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#6 Reply
Posted by
CodyShaw
on 31 Jul, 2013 02:39
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I would 100% buy a modern version of this for a couple hundred bucks, especially if it was a viable commuter vehicle.
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#7 Reply
Posted by
ivan747
on 31 Jul, 2013 03:02
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I would 100% buy a modern version of this for a couple hundred bucks, especially if it was a viable commuter vehicle.
Yeah me too. And I would prefer a 2 wheel version, sorta like a bike aided with a motor, but I think that already exists. The point is, a vehicle like this gets you rolling, it's much better than the 12 minute walks I sometimes have to do. I have taken 1 hour walks to the electronics market because taxis here follow fixed routes, which is ok, but they place 4 adults in the back seat and 2 in the front plus the driver. I hate it, so I prefer walking. Their practices are totally unsafe and theoretically illegal, but they can control the government cause if they stop working, the half the city does as well.
A little vehicle like this should be fun and could be carried in the back of an SUV or small truck as well as practical for many kinds of people. It would be great if they had different variations, by that I mean they could come in tricycle versions, bike versions, even 2 seat buggy versions with different specs on power and speed, different license requirements (the ones that are legally considered bikes will be very appealing).
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15Kg of lead acid battery? Wow we have come a fair way, 15Kg if lithium would get you something like 150Ah @12-14v depending on chemistry!
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#9 Reply
Posted by
Paul Moir
on 31 Jul, 2013 03:21
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'oley jeeze is that winter time in Australia? Please tell us this is old footage.
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#10 Reply
Posted by
EEVblog
on 31 Jul, 2013 03:23
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'oley jeeze is that winter time in Australia? Please tell us this is old footage.
Yep, still winter here.
Yes, it's old footage, shot 3 days ago
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#11 Reply
Posted by
Domokid
on 31 Jul, 2013 03:28
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Joined just so I could post this photo, It has been on my computer for ages and until this video I had no idea what it was.
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#12 Reply
Posted by
vk6zgo
on 31 Jul, 2013 03:30
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The Brits were very big on strange vehicles,like the Bond company,which made some incredibly weird devices.
Closer to home,(Oz),does anyone remember the Lightburn Zeta?
It was a "real car"-----sort of!
The Zeta was made by a washing machine manufacturer,so a lot of the components were not standard car parts.
It was driven by a 2 stroke motor----quite a small one,if I remember correctly.
The original design came from Eastern Europe------sorry,can't remember where.but the Aussie version had a fibreglass body.(an ugly one!)
There was also a Sports version,which looked a bit like a Goggomobil Dart.
The Goggos were a much more sophisticated vehicle,though.
.
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#13 Reply
Posted by
EEVblog
on 31 Jul, 2013 04:47
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I've turned on youtube image stabilsation in this video, please tell me what you think.
I have to decide whether or not to keep it. I think I have 24 hours to revert back, otherwise I'm stuck with stabilised version.
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#14 Reply
Posted by
Bored@Work
on 31 Jul, 2013 05:55
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You call that an electric car?
THIS is an electric car
http://www.mercedes-amg.com/webspecial/sls_e-drive/eng.php?lang=eng 60 kWh, 400V input
552 kW (751 hp) output
1 kNm torque
naught to 100 km/h in 3.9s
250 km/h top speed (electronically limited)
The only question not decided:
Will this thing empty your wallet faster when you buy it than it will empty its battery when you drive it at 250 km/h?
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#15 Reply
Posted by
Tooms
on 31 Jul, 2013 06:33
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#16 Reply
Posted by
G7PSK
on 31 Jul, 2013 07:45
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The C5 production line along with the manufacturing rights was sold to a Californian company where they made them as executive toys, do they still make them there. I was once tasked with fitting a set of flasher lights to a C5 the lights were the crappiest possible very flimsy and poorly made using festoon bulbs and the kit included a stamped sheet metal tool for drilling the holes in the plastic.
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#17 Reply
Posted by
Robreeves
on 31 Jul, 2013 12:08
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Here is a link to the Sinclair video mentioned in the teardown
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#18 Reply
Posted by
Winston
on 31 Jul, 2013 15:19
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#19 Reply
Posted by
Wytnucls
on 31 Jul, 2013 16:28
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This one made in China looks a bit more comfortable, less nerdy and the rearview mirrors are standard.
Overall dimensions(L*W*H)mm2150×950×1700
Wheel base (mm):1450
Rear tread (mm):750
Motor:72V2000w brushless DC
Controller:72V80A
Battery:72V45AH (lead acid)
Charger:72V/6.5A
Max.speed:65 km/H
Range:70 km
Climb ability:25°
Front Tire4.00-12
Rear Tire:145/70-12
Brake:Disk
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#20 Reply
Posted by
jancumps
on 31 Jul, 2013 16:30
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I've turned on youtube image stabilsation in this video, please tell me what you think.
Ok in general. Only caused lots of blur on the sped-up part.
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...and this is what 'Spitting Image' thought of the C5
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#22 Reply
Posted by
KTP
on 31 Jul, 2013 17:02
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omg that video is hilarious. "what is it?" "an invalid car" "but I am not an invalid"...."haven't driven it yet.."
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#23 Reply
Posted by
opablo
on 31 Jul, 2013 17:21
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What's with that crappy DMM at 32:51 ?
The entire world was invaded by those meters
Really good video BTW...
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#24 Reply
Posted by
HKJ
on 31 Jul, 2013 18:19
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this is much like the Danish "Ellert" that was invented by Steen Volmer Jensen in the beginning of the 1980 and first showed of at a car show 1985, so seems they was out at the same time
Not really, the Danish version was a motorbike not a bicycle, i.e. more powerful and it was closed.
Production was stopped in Denmark long time ago and moved to Germany:
http://www.cityel.com/index.php/produkte/der-cityel
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I've turned on youtube image stabilsation in this video, please tell me what you think.
I have to decide whether or not to keep it. I think I have 24 hours to revert back, otherwise I'm stuck with stabilised version.
Really weird effect, it is charging the field of view all the time. Stretching the edges/corners. Doesn't work too well with almost stationary shots, in moving scenes didn't notice anything weird. Maybe try Deshaker plugin for Virtualdub instead?
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#26 Reply
Posted by
sagdahl
on 31 Jul, 2013 18:53
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Dave,
Nice video. Interesting and relaxed.
But you really kill us when we see what the Sydney weather is in the winter.
In Sweden we have -5 to -10° and snow during 2-3 months and then rain and 10-15° 6-7 months.
Now in the summer we are lucky if we got around 20°C.
It is a mystery why anyone want to stay here....
/Roger
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#27 Reply
Posted by
Wytnucls
on 31 Jul, 2013 19:01
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Yeah, but look at the bright side, at least you don't have to worry about skin cancer...
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#28 Reply
Posted by
SeanB
on 31 Jul, 2013 21:10
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Sydney winter is like Durban, but we do not have the assorted dangerous spiders. A few venomous snakes that is all, and of course the largest production of a certain plant...........
Summer will be different though, a lot more humid.
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I was once tasked with fitting a set of flasher lights to a C5 the lights were the crappiest possible very flimsy and poorly made
So just like every other Sinclair product then... they always cut a few too many corners
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#30 Reply
Posted by
Zad
on 01 Aug, 2013 01:21
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A huge shame really, he consistently came down just on the wrong side of the price <> quality trade-off. Just a few extra pennies spent here and there would have made for much better and more reliable products. The ZX80 voltage regulator heat sink was too small and caused it to overheat. They got it pretty much right with the ZX81, but then made the same mistake on the first issue of the ZX Spectrum. All for the sake of a piece of aluminium that should have been a bit bigger, and must have ended up costing them a small fortune in replacement.
Micro Men is a surprisingly good film. Even though the disclaimer says it isn't all true and scenes were inserted for dramatic purposes, a lot of the details are spot on. Even the chap they got to play Rick Dickinson, the industrial designer, looks a lot like him. There is a nice cameo near the end, the landlady behind the pub bar is Sophie Wilson, half of the ARM design team.
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#31 Reply
Posted by
sagdahl
on 01 Aug, 2013 05:46
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I have to take out my ZX80 from the closet and measure some voltage regulator temperatures.
Never had a problem with it.
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#32 Reply
Posted by
vk6zgo
on 01 Aug, 2013 06:37
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Dear old Clive believed his own publicity & didn't have the patience to handle product failure.
For instance,I've never heard of anyone getting his "D class " amplifiers to meet their supposed specs.
Sinclair just washed their hands of them & went on to something else.
That sounds familiar---maybe Sir Clive is advising the Chinese Electronics industry now!
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#33 Reply
Posted by
Stonent
on 01 Aug, 2013 07:12
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Found the original commercial:
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#34 Reply
Posted by
Stonent
on 01 Aug, 2013 07:16
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I was once tasked with fitting a set of flasher lights to a C5 the lights were the crappiest possible very flimsy and poorly made
So just like every other Sinclair product then... they always cut a few too many corners
Colo(u)r screen?! Bahh! Who needs that? The ability to see the screen while instructions were running? Luxury!
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#35 Reply
Posted by
amyk
on 01 Aug, 2013 07:41
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Surprised to see a ULA on the display board; I was expecting something more off-the-shelf, like maybe an LM3914. Perhaps they were cheaper?
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#36 Reply
Posted by
vk6zgo
on 01 Aug, 2013 07:44
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The C5 might have got a bit of traction if it had been introduced in the 1960s..----it looked like something out of El Cheapo British science fiction of that period.
They could have got "Twiggy" or someone to drive one & picked up free publicity.
After all that was the time of the "Swinging Sixties" when all sorts of crap appeared,& maybe sold a few items.
Anyone remember the "Moulton Bicycle"--it had tiny wheels which were supposed to have some benefits.
But the '80s---I don't think so!
Many Brits of that time were not sure where their next quid was coming from,let alone forking out 399 of them for a "car",which after you "had a look under the bonnet",looked like something you could put together in your back shed.
You could probably have picked up a reasonable old motorbike for that,or an "Old Banger" car!
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#37 Reply
Posted by
RupertGo
on 01 Aug, 2013 10:31
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Oh man! That's made my day. Let me take you back... back... back...
I worked for Sinclair Research in the mid-80s as a snotty-nosed teenaged Z80 programmer. I joined the day the C5 launched and worked initially in Sinclair's London office (a tiny place with just Clive, his secretary, his father and me - it's a long story...). So I came out of work and there outside the office was the C5 that Clive had been driving at the launch event - widely covered on the telly. But, nobody knew what to do with it - it was a Friday afternoon, it wouldn't fit through the doorway into the office and you couldn't just leave it there. So light, someone could have picked it up and walked away with it.
"I know!" I said. "I'll drive it home and look after it over the weekend!"
Clive looked dubious "Are you sure?" he said, "It's rush hour, it's London..."
"You've just been on the TV telling everyone how safe it is," I said (teenagers, eh?). "What can go wrong?"
"Errr... OK" he said. What else could he have done?
So I drove it from Chelsea to Chiswick through the London rush hour traffic. Got a lot of attention - after all, it'd had been on the TV all day - and it felt really good.
Until I got to Hammersmith, about three miles from the office and about two from home, when the battery ran out. The advertised range was not quite working out... peddling it (with no gearbox) all the way home was not nearly as much fun.
"Yes," said Clive on the Monday. "There may be some bugs to work out..." Can't remember how we got it back - I think by van.
Some more background on it: it was designed by a couple of chaps at Milton Hall, home of Sinclair Research's Metalab in Cambridge, in conjunction with various suppliers. The P. Newman who co-authored the Unofficial C5 document is Perran Newman, who became my boss at Sinclair after I moved to Cambridge; we worked together on a few projects, including the Pandora portable Spectrum (yet another story).
The "washing machine" motor was in fact a variant of one used for electric torpedoes. The ULA was a typical Sinclair component; the Ferranti ULA in the ZX81 was the first such in any consumer device, and Sinclair had a preference for them over other solutions. It was possible - although I never took part - to put two batteries in series and go very fast indeed, I think the unofficial record was 30 MPH, if you didn't do it for too long. Sinclair engineers were an eccentric bunch, and did things like go jousting in muddy fields in Citroen 2CVs.
But so much on it was just too pared back - the nylon gears that stripped, the batteries that were just too wimpy, those brakes... and, yeah, the British weather. There was a sort of cagoule which clipped around the front of the driving space, but that made you look even more like Davros than before.
Happy days.But it was a doomed project... now, the C10...
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#38 Reply
Posted by
EEVblog
on 01 Aug, 2013 11:50
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Wow, great first hand story, thanks for sharing!
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Man, that thing has so much potential, the main problem i see is how steering is handled; you can solve the nylon gears, the battery, the motor, not being able to see behind you all easily, but how the steering is done, not so much
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#40 Reply
Posted by
EEVblog
on 01 Aug, 2013 12:50
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Man, that thing has so much potential, the main problem i see is how steering is handled; you can solve the nylon gears, the battery, the motor, not being able to see behind you all easily, but how the steering is done, not so much
Actually, the steering works pretty well (provided you are the right height) and is quite natural. You instantly feel comfortable with it. That is the least of the issues.
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#41 Reply
Posted by
Slobodan
on 01 Aug, 2013 14:45
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Will you be able to make a video with Nissan leaf than?
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#42 Reply
Posted by
Slobodan
on 01 Aug, 2013 14:46
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This one made in China looks a bit more comfortable, less nerdy and the rearview mirrors are standard.
Overall dimensions(L*W*H)mm2150×950×1700
Wheel base (mm):1450
Rear tread (mm):750
Motor:72V2000w brushless DC
Controller:72V80A
Battery:72V45AH (lead acid)
Charger:72V/6.5A
Max.speed:65 km/H
Range:70 km
Climb ability:25°
Front Tire4.00-12
Rear Tire:145/70-12
Brake:Disk
What is the price?
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#43 Reply
Posted by
KTP
on 01 Aug, 2013 16:45
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#44 Reply
Posted by
Winston
on 01 Aug, 2013 21:50
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#45 Reply
Posted by
EEVblog
on 01 Aug, 2013 22:36
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Will you be able to make a video with Nissan leaf than?
I am currently in talks with Nissan to get a hold of a LEAF.
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#46 Reply
Posted by
ivan747
on 01 Aug, 2013 23:14
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So Dave now becomes an electric car reviewer
Just don't ruin the car during the teardown
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In the 80's Sinclair was big on Z80 based devices.
In the Z80 Processor the mnemonic for the op-code C5 was 'PUSH BC' - Could that be an inside joke by the C5 team do you think? (PUSH BC ~ PUSH BICYCLE)
Probably not, but it makes me smile.
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#48 Reply
Posted by
Slobodan
on 02 Aug, 2013 09:35
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Will you be able to make a video with Nissan leaf than?
I am currently in talks with Nissan to get a hold of a LEAF.
What, sarcasm? Your mate mentioned in the video that he owns a Nissan Leaf, or did I misunderstood?
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#49 Reply
Posted by
LapTop006
on 02 Aug, 2013 11:18
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On the display board what were the yellow strapped components with the resistors? If they were black strapped I'd have assumed zero ohm links.
Some odd diode package perhaps?
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#50 Reply
Posted by
Winston
on 02 Aug, 2013 19:31
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Over here velomobiles (with or without e-assist) are becoming quite popular. Mostly without e-assist though, there's no need in our flat as a pancake country. Some are available with e-assist though, the most luxurious is probably the
Sunrider. Available with 250W or 750W motor (the 750W version is registered as a moped).
The guy behind
www.velomobiel.nl also made a neat motorcycle, showing the importance of aerodynamics:
http://www.velomobiel.nl/allert/
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#52 Reply
Posted by
Spunky
on 03 Aug, 2013 01:12
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I remember when the C5 came out it was before recumbent bicycles so was just too wierd for folks to accept. Also long before it was cool for middle classes to be eco friendly, the only people who wanted a petrol-less vehicle were mostly the ones who didn't have money to buy it. It would probably do a lot better if it was re-released now.
Wouldn't be any good where I am though, steep hills everywhere.
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#53 Reply
Posted by
CJWarlock
on 30 Dec, 2013 18:48
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I've just found a longer (6 minutes) version of the Sinclair C5 commercial. I thought I'll post it here because I think it is interestig, even in terms of the specific marketing in the 80's for electronic and/or innovative devices.
http://youtu.be/l5N937V8ZOw -
Sinclair C5 infomercial 1985