HumanCar pairs human power with electricity for greener, healthier drive

It's a transportation solution that could, at once, decrease emissions and improve the physical health of sedentary drivers. The HumanCar uses the power of its occupants to create a sporty answer to other low-speed vehicles.

I spoke last week with Charles Greenwood, inventor of the HumanCar, about how the vehicle works -- and the impact it could have on the way we drive.

How did you develop the idea for the HumanCar?

I started building cars when I was 14. That was a long time ago. I got through college and went to work at a research lab. I was stuck in traffic one day in one of my hot rods. I started looking around and seeing what shape people were in. It transfixed me that not only was everyone in bad shape, but we weren't going anywhere either. We were also breathing each others exhaust. My job was to invent things. That led to a fairly functional little prototype that was built by 1972. It was a project at this corporation for awhile. They decided they didn't want to proceed with it. I left there, came up to Oregon and have been here ever since finding out just how hard it is to put together an industrial empire.

Talk about how the HumanCar works.

It's a bidirectional, full-body interface. It can be likened both to rowing and push ups combined into one pulsing motion. That's what sets it apart from other human-power interfaces. You're not constantly straining against the system. It turns out to be natural and intuitive. The difficult part was to take that motion and combine ability to control the vehicle. It took all the way into the '90s to do that work. You can both power in a full-body mode with multiple people and control the vehicle quite well.

Is the vehicle hybrid-electric or completely human-powered?

We do both. The initial research device was aimed at getting some numbers on how much power could the occupants put out. While it was designed to implement with electrical boosters, we waited until the current design to implement the hybrid-human features. That's the model we think the vast majority of people would prefer.

How fast can the car go?

If you're in a human-powered [vehicle], you're going to go about the speed you'd go on a bicycle. If you're an Olympic team, you're going to go quite a bit faster -- say 45 or 50 [miles per hour] with human power alone. If you're like a lot of people, you're not going to go anywhere near that fast. That's the whole idea of adding in the electric boost, so it can be practical for a neighborhood electric vehicle. You're generally limited to 25 or 35 miles per hour depending on the state and local regulations. But since we're hot rodders and race car builders, we've taken it out on down-hill testing to make sure the handling and brakes worked well above design speed. We've been 60 miles per hour around corners down hills. The car could, with electric power, go as fast as the jurisdiction will allow you, which generally is 25 to 35 miles per hour.

So, this isn't a vehicle for highways. It's a neighborhood car.

Exactly. Places like Palm Springs made it legal for people to drive golf carts on the road. Now there are hundreds of thousands of slow-speed vehicles in communities. They're primarily golf carts or modified golf carts. We fit up what you might call the Maserati of low-speed vehicles. It's both higher performance and higher handling ability. It's really built like a little autocross car. It's a sport model.

What safety features does the HumanCar include?

We don't fit into the mold of a lap belt. That's not going to work with you moving your body. We have what we think is a suitable solution. It's basically a rock scrambling harness that allows you to move your upper body around, but stay in the car. If you look at [the safety profile of other low-speed neighborhood vehicles] by and large there isn't any. I don't think I've ever seen a golf cart with a seat belt in it. We look at this the other way. It's an opportunity to make a safer vehicle. Our structure is like a bumper that goes all the way around you. The next model we're working on is our enclosed sedan. That's all the way up to airbags and roll over protection. If our [vehicle] is far safer than the cars we're competing against, then that's where it ought to be. We want to take the lead on that.

How much better on the environment is the HumanCar than other vehicles?

Other than the environmental impact of constructing it and the embodied energy in it, theoretically you're doing it without any impact at all. With a lot of families, there will be some impact from your electrical utilities generating power. The recharge cost does have a footprint.

Is the car available for sale now?

We have prototypes. We're making dealer demo cars that aren't available to the public. We're working out going into much larger production for the commercial model. People are reserving those.

How much does the car cost?

The basic model, which is going to get you around your neighborhood with features including AC backup power, is $15,500. That car will be available with options that include a soft top enclosure, better battery packs and so on. We haven't really target priced [the sedan] yet, but it is more because it's a fully enclosed vehicle.

Could the HumanCar be a viable transportation option outside the U.S., perhaps in developing countries?

Yes, more of a utilitarian, rugged vehicle. We've also had inquiries from farmers. Often their support vehicles work very slowly. We have a design for that that would use the same basic components. We do have a home power generation unit which takes the physical interface, but it's in a suitcase format. That's a standby power system that's human powered. In an isolated village, you could generate the kind of power yourself that's required for computers and cell phones.

Image: Charles Greenwood

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com