It's In You

Posted at 06:26, 2008-Feb-1

While automakers were busying themselves to cut fuel costs, Seattle-based company HumanCar, had found the cheapest, and I think the easiest means for the seemingly endless quest for alternative fuels - nothing else but cars that entail human power. The HumanCar's Imagine LMV is a zero-emissions car that requires a push-pull hand mechanism and regenerative braking to supply power to batteries that drive dual electric motors. Until now, I'm still thinking about its resemblance with an Acura Legend distributor cap.

Made of aluminum and carbon fiber, the Imagine LMV weighs 400 pounds and can seat four passengers - seven to 70 years old. The vehicle has a top-speed of 30 miles per hour. According to bornrich.org, that makes Imagine LMV a certified environment-friendly car for two reasons: (1) It lets out no smoke and (2) With that kind of speed what are the odds anybody being killed in an accident! Plus, since the car is human-powered, anyone driving it to work can automatically expect to get a rigorous workout while on the street.

"The car is a neighborhood electric vehicle and uses a proprietary technology to turn oscillatory motion into rotational motion. This is something that has never been created before," HumanCar Founder and Chief Engineer Charles Greenwood said.

On April 22, coinciding with the Earth day celebration would be the launching of HumanCar's Imagine LMV with a pegged price of $15,000.

All this time, the alternative power we've been looking for was actually in us already. Cheers for Mr. Greenwood!