Wheelchair driven smart car

[scootntootn]

http://m.wimp.com/unusualfeature/?utm_s ... deo%2F%2F/

[Burgerman]

The problem I see with that is the following:

1. Its way too small for safety. Get hit by a proper car and get wiped out.
2. No place to put the stuff you went out for? Box of shopping? Model plane? Friend? Dog?
3. Too slow - dangerous on dual cabbageway or motorway, too little range to make my typical flying site for e.g.
4. electric, so batteries every few years and initial cost too high.

Which is why I and most other chair users have these or similar:
http://www.wheelchairdriver.com/images- ... medium.jpg

[scootntootn]

From what she said, you're not in the target audience anyway.

[Burgerman]

What is the target audience?

[scootntootn]

What is the target audience?

City dwellers who can't afford a big drive from wheelchair van like yours, but still need to drive in slow city traffic to do errands.

BTW, I agree with you on the lack of storage in that thing. Wheelchairs already drive me nuts in that regard. I use my scooter for shopping, so where to put stuff is constantly on my mind. So far it's only the weight tolerance I'm worried about. I've been able to accomodate what I've shopped so far. If I need to carry more than the weight tolerance I'll have to drag it behind me on wheels.

[Burgerman]

City dwellers who can't afford a big drive from wheelchair van like yours, but still need to drive in slow city traffic to do errands.

The problem is though that almost every errand involves some shopping or carrying something one way or another. And if its close enough to go to in that battery car I can just use my powerchair as that cant carry anything either!

It just seems to add another layer, more cost, more trouble getting in, out, stuck in traffic, parking, that only achieves what I can already do without it.

And it would be embarrassing.

[flagman1776]

I think it certainly is clever. I gasoline pwered unit... golf cart sized motor... would have a lot of promise. Yes, it needs room for items which one went out for.

[scootntootn]

We have cars that size in the cities here. Electric ones. They can be parked in spaces you can't place a normal car. Just back in instead of parallell parking. I envied them when I was hunting for parallell parking with my smallish car when I lived in the city. This was quite a while ago. But when you add a wheelchair, that takes up the space you could use for shopping. I'll be interested to see if they can find some clever way to add space for shopping at least.

With your batteries, BM, you can drive far longer than many can in a power chair. The current model of this car is meant for manual wheelchairs, and she's also positioning it for those who are tired of hauling the wheelchair into a regular chair multiple times a day. I can see a subset of wheelchair users liking it. Maybe the same subset that should have switched to an electric wheelchair but refuses to?

[Burgerman]

Probably. But they would be far better off with a powerchair and a set of lithium batteries. No parking spaces, no getting in or out, and no cost of purchase, insurance, maintenance or replacing batteries etc.
And of course a decent powerchair enables a mountain of things you cant do in a manual chair too.

[Sully]

No Cover in a popup thunderstorm, No Respit from even 40*F air on your hands. Plusses and minuses tradeoffs whatever.

[MenCallMeGimpy]

The rear entry could be problematic. It's fine in car parks, but if it's parked on the street, all it takes is some oblivious clown parking too close to the hatch and you're screwed.

My van has a rear chair lift and I need to be careful where I park on the street for this reason.

[Sully]

Gimpy;

I use the same lift arangement, In malls with parking lots, I usually park at the far end of lines of spaces. as far away from the entrances as possible. Rare is it that I become blocked. But you are right in parallel parking that is always a danger. I do have a HP sticker for info purposes for what ever tiny good that might do.

[popschief]

With regard to carrying stuff I use this every day all day https://goo.gl/f84mep
bp

[Burgerman]

LOVE THE Lightweight carbon fibre and titanium modern style! But if it works...

[popschief]

It works well and gets used all summer hauling the daily harvest in to the patio for cleaning. Here in the north end of the San Joaquin Valley we can and do raise all sorts of fruits and vegetables. We have a grape arbor with 4 kinds of seedless grapes, a persimon tree, nectarine tree, 4 apple trees, an orange tree, 2 cheery trees, 3 walnut trees and the vegetable garden would make even longer list. Needless to say I churn around all day gardening and by late afternoon my batteries are feeling it.
bp

[Burgerman]

persimon tree

??

That kind of shuffling about is the very thing that best kills batteries fast. Few miles or less than a mile, but dead batteries.

[popschief]

Re persimon tree; misspelled persimmon. Also known as Asian pear. And yes, I do a lot of shuffling about. My ideal conveyance would have hydrogen internal combustion power and position me from ground level to at least 12 feet with retractable outriggers of course.
bp

[Burgerman]

Why hydrogen?

[popschief]

I was thinking it would be clean burning enough to drive into the house for a glass of wine now and then.
bp

[Burgerman]

Well I wouldn't worry. I use a petrol leaf blower extensively every day in the house, to clear dust, and dog hair, cobwebs, the odd plate, straight out of the doors into the street. Been doing that for about 15 years, works faster and better and more thoroughly than a paid cleaner. And I am still here to tell the tale.

[Burgerman]

Or you could just run it on ethanol...

[popschief]

That's a very good suggestion and the house plants should thrive on the CO2.
bp