Is This Century Old Invention The Future Of Urban Transport? 

Thanks for all the love on this film, it was so fun to make! For those who wish to get prints of some of the images in this film, here is the link! Jochnowicz.redbubble.com

Well done sir, the filming and editing is ace. And was also a pleasure to be involved.

Velomobiles should always have been the future

Glad to see that there are people thinking, and thinking quite clearly, about these issues. Makes me hopeful about the future.

I've been saying this for years. Unfortunately the western world is too rich to see the need to downscale from cars to lighter vehicles. And the car industry has a big lobby. Velo need to get away from the shell being for structural strenght. Carbon fibre is too expensive and not environmentally friendly. Make a steel of alu frame and make the shell from lightweight material that can easily be replaced when damaged. And as the girl says, don't make it so cramped and extreme. Make it comfy even if you sacrificy a bit of efficiency.

I'd love one, but a lot of the roads near me are pretty terrible in terms of potholes and general road surface. With the bike I feel like I can at least plot my line to dodge them but I guess that becomes harder with a 3 wheeler? Meanwhile I find it crazy how much we hear about marginal aero gains in road bike frames...and still barely anything about velomobiles, which are actually solving the aero problem properly, and not just within the arbitrary constraints of the UCI!

Whilst consumer journeys in cars are often local, business users and particularly tradespeople often cover big distances from their home to a work location or cover a huge geographic area. We're really excited to get our first pedal van but we're one of small minority that focus on working locally. Because most trade businesses cover vast areas they can't consider using a pedal van or cargo bike. Really great for concentrated services like last mile delivery but bit for lots and particularly small businesses it's hard. No excuse for any large company with a concentration of work not to have cargo bikes covering area. Royal Mail, AA, BT, local councils etc. A few companies doing a greenwash of having a cargo bike though...

A Danish Pilot designed and built the "Leitra", three wheeler (Production now sadly sold to Germany), witch is to be used also in an open top version. I sadly never tried to ride in one, but only have tried an open 3 wheeler. The Leitra has a the shell to be lifted and rather easy to enter, also with the luggage in the back.

Keep me updated i am a 70 year old man ride 15 to 20 miles on a road bike or mountain bike love the concept you have

I would ABSOLUTELY buy a mass produced velo mobile in the 3-5k range.

E-velomobiles are also some of the only vehicles that can get a useable daily charge from vehicle-mounted solar. Great video!

Man what a stylish mini-documentary! What a music taste, putting my hat off here, really heart warming. Thank you for the efforts.

I live in rural Missouri. When I think of driving around in one of those, I immediately picture myself and my Velomobile being crunched under the wheels of some arrogant person's big SUV.

It really is a thrill watching quality documentary about exciting projects that do bring hope for a smaller footprint in transportation. Hats off to all people involved there!

Very cool. As an impassioned upright cyclist since '82, I can only agree with the health of this trend. Subscribed. Cheers from sunny Vienna, Scott

Good work John, nice vid. Sure miss you guys.. maybe one day I'll get myself a velomobile.

If this is the future, it will be good! Well good documentary!

Awesome video! Really inspiring

This documentary was the kind of weird I was looking for, excellent job buddy! New subscriber here. 😁👍

This video lifts up my spirits and gives hope. Thank you.

Awesome documentary, been wanting a Velo for years now, but yeah, their price is holding them back, as I'm still fairly young and can't afford to spend that kind of money, specially since I'm saving for a house right now. But some day...

Great discovery here: Elecy of Amara! Seems a real breakthrough!

I loved watching John Williams videos he got me through Lock down

can't wait to see more developments in this area

Alas the velomobile kit I ordered from David (in Texas) will never arrive, so I'm now out $7000 I could have used towards a product that will actually ship. Unfortunately, everybody with a reputation worth trusting (my research) that isn't selling rotomolded / warm-climate only stuff (suspension is absolutely required for most cold climates due to frost heaving of the roads) and is likely to be in business next week are in Europe. (Sorry Utah Trikes, but in much of the USA Trisled's Rotovelo is little more than a toy for the few roads smooth enough to use it on.)

Now make it slightly longer, and cover it in solar cells for about 300wh/h and drive the undriven axel with electirc so you dont have to pedal most of the time, and when pedaling you get AWD

Wow 😳 I had experienced this in my childhood and forgotten it.

I JUST saw a velomobile today in Bellingham, WA! I thought it looked so cool. The blue and orange livery makes it look retro but sleek

Love the video congrats! Velomobile could be definitely a futur for transportation, I think one of the main subject that will help for adoption is the right urban infrastructure to enable it, a shame you haven't went deeper on this side. Continue doing videos of this quality!

Os velomóveis só estão começando! São veículos eficientes e estão cada vez mais práticos!

I'm supposed to be working but I couldn't resist watching your vid. Great edit by the way.

In the United States I'm relegated to slowly turning my recumbent into a streamliner using bits of coroplast political signs zip ties together. But someday... Someday...

Hope to see more of those cargo bikes on the streets in the future! Awesome docu

I see these almost every day in our streets every in the country for at least 10 years. That makes me think this must be a Dutch invention or at least The Netherlands is the country in which these already are around for a long time

Very interesting! Especially Tamara's machine! Think we might need to legislate lighter vehicles by a tax system or something because it doesn't really make sense to use a 3 or 4000lb vehicle to move one person around unless you have to protect yourself AGAINST a 4000lb machine. In 90's worked, in school, on Supermileage vehicles. We got 800mpg, but best that year was 3000mpg! Always thought that was interesting way to go but now battery have become so good...find current e-bikes at start of their development at least as far as reliability goes, in my opinion, like 1900 motorbikes and cars. The Velomobiles look also very interesting except for: cost, cars (crashing into u), and winter...here with sometimes a foot or two of snow on the ground. Maybe shouldn't be looking for one solution but a bunch of solutions ...

I love the concept of velomobiles, but the cost factor alone are a huge hurdle, no one in the u.s. can justify paying 10k for a vehicle with a top speed of 25-30 mph, you can buy a 50cc Honda scooter for $1300.

I've become very interested in the concept of velomobiles, which is how I found this documentary, but I haven't found one that really meets my needs or is at least marketed in a way that sells the concept of a velomobile. Here in the car-centric United States with little to no cycling infrastructure I think safety is the biggest concern. For instance, as a cross between a car and a bicycle which ones are designed with crumple zones and air bags? Most look like bobsleds that are front heavy and could easily tip over in a strong wind or on a bumpy road. The Amara is a rough concept and CityQ and Pebl 2.0 are much farther along. However, they go too far down the road of a pedal-powered car IMO and are marketed for their luxury, not their safety (tests). Show me a velomobile that can be hit by a car and the rider has a good chance to live to tell the tale or a velomobile that can take a kick on the side and not tip over. My son is one year into engineering school so maybe he can do it, but it's not there yet.

New channel, mate? Thanks for the link! Subbed now.

If you're concerned about the vehicle height, a fluorescent pompom on an elastic stick should greatly enchance the visibility, maybe with additional LED for night visibility, and maybe signalization as well. I think something like that should be sold with every vehicle, even if it is detachable/optional. If nothing else, you would feel better knowing you offered the safety option...

It won't catch on until it's a LOT cheaper. Even entry level velomobiles are a lot more expensive than a vast majority of commuters would be willing to pay.

I had an Alleweder 6 for 1 1/2 years and a Milan GT for 6 months. I got rid of both of them. The Milan was not suitable enough for everyday riding as it had too small luggage space and you could only use half of the inside to store luggage, because the chain ran freely on one side. The Alleweder needs too much maintenance. The dampers regularly need new grease and have to be taken apart for this. And if you aren’t too skilled to do repairs and maintenance for yourself, it is too difficult to get anywhere to do fix anything. The higher amount of special parts hampers this further. I switched to recumbent trikes with good clothing for weather protection, with the bad infrastructure in Germany I also have more options because there are models with fat tyres. With simple mechanical brakes and no front suspension, there is hardly anything that could possibly break.

I am happy to see this video. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks the increase in SUVs is just ridiculous, and I am looking forward to new advances in this market

Engineer's dream - i'll take it if it's anywhere near as efficient as a velomobile. All sorts of velocars have been done before, and they're usually heavy and far less aerodynamic, limiting use among car traffic flow and especially in hilly terrain.

Apparently the first recumbant bikes in 1920s Denmark were jokingly called Sofa cycles.

This is what we need people to be switching to. If you can drop your child at school and then nip to the shops for a top up or the weekly shop it would be an amazing change. Makes my old school cargo bike look... well old school 😂

That's a good video!

I have been riding a lot of years on a bike 20km to my workplace.. The whole year.. So, think of maintanance. Wind force. Freezing of the tyres and gears. FLAT tyres in every wheater condition. Snow, ice, rain, rust.

Thank you so much

"Velorution" -- best bike store name ever. Also, John Williams appears to be sipping bourbon or scotch or something -- he is my people.

I really believe in the use of e assist cargo platforms for last mile solutions. However here in the U.S. in order to qualify for bicycle status you are only allowed up to 3 wheels. Still doable but not as shown in the last segment although UPS for example has shown interest in a similar vehicle here.

These things don't have a snowball's chance in the USA

Thank you!

Game over for Tesla!

Very cool.

Awesome!

I drive the equivalent of a big SUV myself, but I respect the size of it and I'm careful not to crunch anybody.

5:23 composite wheels by Alligt

Great stuff. I wonder, does anyone use a streamliner on the road, or are they strictly track machines only?

Enjoyable video. That initiative in part two looks impressive. I’m a keen cyclist and EV driver of 4 years but am very sceptical about mass adoption of this kind of vehicle. It’s a very steep hill to climb, I’m afraid and I agree with the comments about people basically being lazy. There is also the status symbol topic etc. Etc. Etc. You also mentioned arriving dry in your velomobiel, I test drove one once and remember it as a very sweaty experience???

Pardon Me ! More Drum 'N' Bass Jungle Velomobile Videos Please .

I want one!

Have a recumbent trike, it is slow uphills. My concern with a vello is that it will be worse up hills due to extra weight. ALso the huge cost puts me off , £10000 + ?

Imagine a Velomobil as a Speed pedelec. We in Europe have speed pedelecs wich have motor support up to 45 km/h. The big problem of Velomobiles is to climb hills.

I love Velomobiles!!! I live in America and would be run over by our trucks so i wont be partaking in the awesomeness unfortunately.

3:30 - it seems that UCI has a long lasting tradition of banning everything that's even slightly revolutionary!

I could build that... I've been looking into building something like this enclosed cabin bike for a long time. Now I see that it is possible...

Pebl. From Maine USA.

Still would be tempted to put an aerial on it possibly with a light on top .

I ride a trike due to a balance issue and I added a Veltop which makes my trike into a convertible. It doesn't save me from side splash or slush in the winter time. It was a truly brilliant addition when I cycled across North America which was mostly in Canada back in 2015. I feel that visibility is very important, so I fly flags off a poll as on my first cycle tout I was told I wasn't very visible but since then drivers reaction an comments are very positive about visibility. .

I have a Milan and I don't think velombiles are the solution for a few reasons. They are big and you can't park them as densely as bikes. Which is a problem in big cities. They are expensive They don't work well in a mixed transit situation like a folding bike.

Where do you attach the air conditioner? You’re not going to get far in 35C high humidity weather. And what about snow, sleet, or high wind conditions. And for delivery, what you save in vehicle costs, you spend more in labor and lost productivity, and fewer sales as it’s slower and cannot handle heavier loads. The solution is electric vehicles, not modified bicycles.

These look great but they are also very low so visibility to the majority of traffic is not good, would be fantastic if there was a proper infrastructure for bikes everywhere.

A concept similar to the Amara has already been tried as the Flevobike Orca, which has ceased production due to low volumes. I'd be interested if they have considered learning from the Orca's demise?

People commuting just themselves, a few miles, two ways, five times a week in 2+ tonnes of vehicle has always seemed crazy to me. And now people are buying full size EVs when they could be better off buying a micro EV.

You have to be willing to be wet or and cold, if your giving up a car to ride an Ebike on the same route in the autumn, winter & spring when the weather is raining, dreary, cooler, cold or snowy. This means thermal insulated boots, pants, jackets, neck warmers, heated gloves, rain gear, a lot. I have optioned to use our Lectric XP3.0 step-thru Ebike 500w 48v 14ah to replace some of my car trips too & from work, sometimes, to reduce fuel use & save money on fuel that helps to pay for the $1200 e-bike capital cost & brake pads & tires & charging. I dream of a large fairing on said Ebike to protect from cold air & rain so I can arrive at work warm & dry, but nothing exists like this and custom building a study aerodynamic enclosure that is safe to use daily commuting on said Ebike is a major project at high cost in terms of time & materials, especially the custom wood and foam needed to melt the clear thermoplastic shell into the require shape to attach with composite brackets to the metal screw post mounts for the front basket & rear cargo basket // I plan on doing this, but hope to find an example of someone else who has already done so to learn from their efforts to save time on my project

(Instantly checking about this young man's company

🎉🎉❤

왠지 신뢰가 가는 영상임..

I really want to build one with pedal assist. I live in the mountains

Yes. 😁

11:03 fascinating how people still think there's a Road Tax, it has been dropped in the UK in 1937 and the money from they Vehicle Excise Duty isn't reserved for the construction of roads as the Road Tax was.

I followed the video on Google Earth, and a lot of what you show is currently visible there. Very sad.

but how does it deal with up hills?

i mean the real way forward is to just invest more in public transport but yeah

I’m all for it , but for two humans or three How’s that work? As for current velomobiel they show two versions, Quatrevelo and Snoek I ride a Quatrevelo and roomy inside , yes I have too put one leg in then sit on rim, bring my other leg in, then I just slide down into my seat as I do , well it’s wonderful feeling I have the plus version more leg room for taller people. Has a trunk behind the seat you can get with a child seat still have room for groceries most people car ride along at about 23 mph up to 27 mph on flat roads but hills are slow going, as Quatrevelo weighs 60 pounds as for the Snoek it’s built for speed and racing 30 mph to 36 mph hard to get into very light weight, two versions Snoek, Snoek L (large) very tight fit but if your 6’4 you’re fit in the Snoek, many use them for communing Quatrevelo has Four wheels can be ridden on snowy days I’m just the Driver and I love, sometimes I drive it in to my garage park put my head back sleep in it dreaming of where I go tomorrow.

Wonder how much it actually costs to build one from scratch 😂

Combined with electric bicycle tech they would be great city vehicles

I honestly don't think this can beat light electric dirtbikes like the Surron and Talaria x3 we already have on the market unless we are talking about Japan. I am all for electric cargo bikes in general though. Truth is we need legislation to fully embrace the desire for low cost electric vehicles.

Very interesting project. Could you turn down the level of the ‘background’ music? It drowns out the presenter.

It has to get on the highway. It has to be capable of 60mph at least. It needs at least 500 mile or more for range. And it needs to maintain speed going uphill. Forget about everybody going human power - it's fine but with a 50 mile commute (or even 30 mile commute) that won't work every day. Yes there are outlier athletes and young people, but average people don't care. Look at Aptera - that will be the standard but it's still too pricey. This video has a target audince of about 5% of the world's population - it's too narrow.

It isn't. I have two velomobiles, (one is a Snoek), everyone thinks its cool but I have had one on auction for 6 months, several thousand under new price, and no one wants it. They want it 'electric', because they don't understand velomobiles at all. People also ride electric kickboards around, when I can go as fast or faster on non electric kickbikes and get more exercise at the same time. (And it isn't even that hard to pedal a non electric velomobile or kickbike either. In fact it is very beneficial to your health and saves you time you don't have to sit on a stationary bike at a gym).

Petrol driven vehicles are the worst personal transportation idea ever only superseded by inner city flights.

The idea of having a Velomobile seems cool, But it's not going to work in the USA due to distances and how most drivers of cars are a bunch of jerks and the police will not enforce the road rules. This is a problem not just for Velo and bicycles, but also all light weight vehicles.

Unless you take your family out in one of these vehicle, it's ridiculous

Yeah... but... still a rich man's plaything, really. My basic, steel-framed regular bike cost me £130, brand new, about 20 years ago. I take care of it because I'm skint and need it to last, so it's still in good condition - there's no significant degradation - after around 50,000 miles of road use. (I ride 70 miles per week, every week, in lovely British weather🌧️😞.) It's had several new tyres, one new wheel [from pothole damage] and a bit of chain fettling with a tool that cost me £5.70. Other than buying some nifty new LED lights (£3.75 for the pair from China) it's cost me nothing to own and run. Looking through the usual adverts (Argos, Halfords, etc) I see that to replace the bike today would cost me exactly what I paid 20 years ago: £130. Brand new. Yep. That's remarkable. I've seen several new ones at £110 and even a few at £99. And that's my idea of what constitutes cheap, practical personal transport. I made myself a 2-wheeled tow-behind trailer for £22. In theory it can carry over 170 lbs of stuff, although I usually haul no more than 50 lbs of groceries at a time because I'm based in West Yorkshire where every wind is a howling headwind and the hills only ever go up [traditional cycling joke]. So, I'm sorry to say that, although I can see the advantages of pedal velomobiles and other such covered trike-type-thingies, they'll not be viewed as anything other than whizzy toys for bored rich boys as long as they cost thousands. I saw one elegant, fully-enclosed, pedal-assisted, semi-electric machine priced at £45,000. Forty-five grand, and you still had to pedal the darn thing yourself. That's just silly. Saying that plenty of serious cyclists spend upwards of £10,000 on their road bikes doesn't change anything. Likewise, electric vehicles [EVs] are also ludicrously expensive, be they e-bikes, e-trikes, e-scooters or cars. They're all just as unaffordable for ordinary plebs like me. Having said all that, I very much enjoyed this video, so thank you for creating and uploading it.🙂

I disagree to call the materials "exotic". Especially carbon fiber is not. Think of tennis racquets, they are all made of carbon fiber. And there are millions of them, cheaper than wooden or metal racquets were back in the days.

No, you just build your infrastructure like the Netherlands and take trains and ride regular utility bikes.

Technically there is no 'road tax' - everyone pays a tax (yes including cyclists) into a general fund, and the road tax is taken out of that general tax.

A four-wheel footprint but 16 mph in city traffic with only a flimsy plastic body for protection? Small and low so as not to be visible? So light and fragile that they blow away and are destroyed in strong winds? No suitable infrastructure - lanes, parking, security? The future of urban mobility. Really...? I'll be sticking to a "normal" bicycle for now.