No, not the disgruntled Hillary supporters, but the Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility (PUMA)… car thing:
Yes, by the Segway people (remember how a few years ago they were telling everyone that the Segway was the vehicle of the future?) and GM. Are we excited yet?
Weighing in at 300 lbs,
The car will be able to reach speeds of 35-miles-per-hour. With one electric charge, the car can travel 35 miles.
And for all that they’re going to charge you “between one-fourth and one-third of a traditional vehicle.” Excuse me if I’m skeptical but I drive one of these, which weighs in at 4,092 lbs. The PUMAs ought to be charging at the most one-tenth the price of a traditional vehicle.
I found out about it from Brian, who’s nice and tall.
The toy PUMA has a number of features:
- When it rains, you get drenched
- No way you can carry young children safely on that thing unless you actually encase them on a steel armature
- No side protection against impact, which, if you’re going 35 can get you killed.
- Has to be plugged into the power grid to charge
And then there’s the height factor: Brian, like The Husband, is well over 6′. Neither guy’s going to have enough room in the cute little vehicle they’re showing on the photo above. Heck, I don’t even know if I could fit in that, and drive it.
So, considering all the above, why not ride a Vespa instead? Or one of these (Brian, again):
UPDATE, Wednesday 8 April
Behold, the POTUS PUMA
via Larwyn, of course.
Uh oh, I was almost right the first time. The Volvo XC70 shares the same chassis as a Subaru Outback but it does have an American designed and built engine. Isn’t globalization grand!
When CAFE gets to 35mpg, Government Motors will need something else to peddle to keep the Silverado cash cows rolling out the door.
Even if you give PUMAs away, a 20mpg truck suddenly becomes a 40mpg miser. On paper, anyway, which is all that counts….Corporate Average Fuel Economy.
Next up…bicycle racks classified as fuel economy devices.
BTW, the last photo looks like an outtake from TRON.