Rental cars and the Environment

While the hybrids available to rent from Fox and EV-rental are environment-friendlier, they are still powered partially with petrochemicals and charged up with electricity often produced by burning—petrochemicals. There is a class of vehicle actually producing no byproducts whatsoever: human-powered ‘cars’.

Back to the Future
Think about it. The age of the internal combustion engine is coming to an end. There are two ways we can go before we actually run out of petrochemicals. We can engage in oil wars (hmmmm) and reduce ourselves to greedy, violent pigs by the time the oil is gone (and then what?). Or, we can begin looking at alternatives before everybody else does.

Envision a clean world where you can spend time outdoors without choking on exhaust fumes. It will happen, the only questions are when, and how? All over the world people are smelling the coffee—shade grown, fair trade coffee. There are several kinds of human-powered vehicles. The ‘velomobiles’ like the German-made cab-bike, are three-wheelers. They’re basically recumbent bikes with an aerodynamic fiberglass (usually) body. The ‘Didik’ vehicles are custom-made by a visionary who configures 2,3, and 4-wheeled transport. Some of his vehicles also have electric motors and at least one has an auxiliary gasoline motor. He’s even built a hovercraft! The name is probably a marketing handicap, though.

The most practical human-powered vehicles are the 4-wheeled Rhoades cars that are available in many configurations. They make ideal warehouse-and-factory internal transport. You don’t need more than one speed on a flat concrete floor, they don’t make any noise, they don’t stink, and they don’t use up electricity. What could be better?

Models go all the way from 1-speed to 36-speed. If you want to climb a mountain in a Rhoades car, you can do it! You can go anywhere an off-road bike can go (provided the trail is wide enough and you’ve got the right vehicle). The cars are street-legal (as bikes) in most states. And you’re sitting upright—much more visible to unobservant drivers. These cars are used for golf carts, commuting, pleasure, and—business. If you live in a place with a boardwalk, a beach, any tourist destination, all you have to do is put fringe on top and you’ve got a pedicab. Or rent them out by the hour. Anything to get the idea into people’s heads. There are dealership territories available and other opportunities. Check it out! You park it like a car and lock it like a bike. Once you pay for it, maintenance is minimal and can be performed at your local bike shop. And you power it with your lunch! The future is in bikes—and the internet, of course.

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