http://m.phys.org/news/2016-01-solar-pow...ybrid.html
"It looks like an inverted tricycle with an egg-shaped shell. The makers of the Elf vehicle tout it as the future of environmentally friendly urban transport, combining pedal power with battery propulsion and solar charging."
Quote:Sparks said the Elf is "street legal" and requires no registration or insurance, with federal rules classifying it as a bicycle. But some state or local rules may be different.
Long overdue. But another slow, small, light transport for heavier vehicle drivers in the West to complain about in one sense or another. Difficult to imagine even rare cities sporting an extensive, parallel bike-path infrastructure being able to accommodate it much with such. To avoid a future with the same dense and chaotic mix of heavy and light conveyances on the streets as in some Asia cities, a massive scale re-engineering of metropolitan transportation systems needs to take place. But the incredible expense / reconstruction / relocation of property involved, along with the lingering 20th-century energy-guzzling urban design philosophy of North America (at least) -- with the culture's perpetual resurrection cycle of favoritism for large vehicles -- makes the prospect seem like one of the remote goals of overly grand science fiction.
A general realization, that personal priorities might benefit from scaling back on expenditures, could give micro and macro economic dividends, as focus goes toward getting the best future instead of the most extravagant gadgets affordable for seeking intstant gratification. One of those big expenditures is the big vehicles that cost probably a median yearly income.