Trev looks great and the performance figures are in the right place.
A small light weight solar pane on top and it could charge in the Australian sunshine to take you home again.
I think we all know that the solution to transport is going to come out of a university rather than traditional car manufactures; I just hope it doesn't get hijacked like Smart did.
(The original Smart concept as designed by Swatch was intended to be greener and cheaper before Mercedes got their claws in.)

Awesome. Should work well in snow free areas, perfect for down under. One dooredness should probably work fine for most people too.

Hmmm, this is basically a covered trike.

How much less 'power' do existing motorbikes use compared to cars?

Presumably an electric motorbike would be more efficient as it would weigh less, use fewer resource and have less in terms of wear and tear i.e. 2 tyres and not 3.

hint: when posting foreign currency or measurements, how about providing conversions for us 'mericans?

I wonder how that handles in the snow.

What will it look like after 2 years? 10 years? Will you still be able to ride it without embarrassing yourself? I really appreciate the effort and I think more work like this should be done, but sometimes it looks like designers forget those things have to be actually used as well... Acrylic is not really a material that ages well with use. Then again, this was never designed for real life use :o)

This is a lot like an Aptera, except the Aptera has less conventional looks and is more practical, and is more efficient.

I hope both of these cars are where the automotive market is headed...

reminds me of this:

http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/gw/vw1litre.htm

reminds me of this:

http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/gw/vw1litre.htm

Gareth,
I'm not sure they actually considered snow in the design brief, there isn't a whole lot of snow ever in Adelaide. Or much else of Australia really, I've never seen any.

I'd drive this car, but I wonder how much room there is in the back seat? Girls love green guys these days...

A quick fix to make it more usable in the real world: Put light roll bars in it to help support the roof, as this will allow me to attach things up there on the occassions I need to haul more then 2 over night bags or something that doesn't fit on the inside (Like last night when I picked up some lumber to build a book case)

"How much less 'power' do existing motorbikes use compared to cars?

Presumably an electric motorbike would be more efficient as it would weigh less, use fewer resource and have less in terms of wear and tear i.e. 2 tyres and not 3. "

The air drag at highway speeds is proportional to the frontal area multiplied by the coefficient of drag (A*Cd)

Motorcycles may be light and have small frontal area's, but the coefficients of drag are really high.

In slow city driving, a motorcycle would probably come out ahead, but in faster or highway miles, a reasonably well designed three wheeler will be far ahead, and will have more cargo room, more room for batteries, and usually some crash and weather protection.

I love motorcycles, but they do have their limitations.

If I could get this in the 'states, I would use this as my daily commuter. Don't have too much snow in the Seattle, WA area except in the mountains. Probably handles the rain we get pretty well...

The range is perfect, and the fact that it has two seats means I could still pick up my daughter from daycare (she's 3yo).

Naturally, the vehicle would need to be outfitted for real-world use. In concept though I like it :-)

Never mind snow - what about rain? It has no windshield wiper, which is probably a good thing, since acrylic is a lot softer than glass, it would scratch the heck out of it.

I don't see something like this working in the states unless they create special lanes on the interstates for this. A Hummer driving would flatten one of these without even knowing anything was happening.

Most of the comments to this post exemplify why many similar efforts fail to catch, not everybody lives in USA, meaning that the rest of the world doesn't really have to tailor to your situations and needs.
Where I live we don't have snow and travel the length of the country takes 6 hours at 100km/h, concerns for whatever you need to carry more luggage in this respect would properly scale down or not applicable. No AC? Wear a tshirt.

Not my intention to bust Trehugger or other readers, but rather shake some worldly greener sense to the discussion.

cute and I bet it could be registered as a motorcycle in the US avoiding the limiting NEV (25 MPG) regs and the crash testing regs for regular cars. Although I'd be a little scared to ride in it, LOL. It's also not unlike the Aptera. http://www.carazed.com/2008/01/09/aptera-typ-1-a-300-mpg-plug-in-hybrid/

@rpd

How about you just go look up the conversions, the way we have to for every post in $US and miles and mpg?

I don't mean to sound rude but you are coming off as a stereotypical American self-centric.

I love the Trev even more than the XR3 kit hybrid. I wish it was available to purchase. I'm sorry too many of us Americans are prejudice in favor of traditional answers and really have problems admitting to ourselves there may be consequences. Most Americans are unaware we consume almost 3/4's of the planet's resources or that the Earth simply cannot support the lifestyle we feel have a right to. The Trev, like the Aptera are absolutely elegant solutions that could play a significant part in reducing our consumption of global resources while not reducing our quality of life, but for most Americans, our sensibilities are offended. (Let alone the idea of such vehicles not having a $10,000.00 tax credit like the gas guzzling Hummer buyer once received.) Meanwhile our auto industries CEOs whose bloated incomes are derived from frequent repair and servicing of internal combustion engines, and oil corporations (who have friends in the White House) appear to lobby to prevent Apteras, Trev and even your Air Cars from being developed, refined and available to Americans. Forgive us, forgive me, but we need an example of sustainability that transcends what we Americans have been taught. America IS many good and great things, but in this area we are limited mentally and culturally. Which is worth more to me, an electric car that may take me three extra years to pay off or my neighbor's son life who needs to go overseas so I can drive my gas guzzling car? For me, I'd rather pay 2, even 3 more years to have an Aptera or Trev than have the ghost of my neighbor's son coming out of the exhaust of my car. Does anyone know if Trevs can be purchased in America?

Looks like a great concept! I have two safety issues that I hope will be addressed:
1. Needs a roll-cage and 4-point harness for when the truck or SUV doesn't see you. I've heard of the person who couldn't drive very well "so I'd better get something heavy". I want to be green, I also want to live un-maimed... Please see www.commutercars.com for their safety approach.
2. The doors look cool, but: when a door opens at the front of a vehicle, if the latch doesn't catch properly or the driver bumps the door-handle, the door will be slammed open (and possibly off the car) by the wind of the car's passage. Better to open at the back (most cars) or upwards (DeLorean).

Best regards,
Scott