Moonbeam, a Micro Car that gets over 100 miles per gallon

[TGLymantaiste]

throw in some aerodynamics and you will be good to go. use a water cooled motor so you can use the heat like a fullsize car.

[harlanbee]

So this guy can make a vehicle like this in his garage but these multi-billion dollar car companies can't figure out how to make a car that gets more than 40 on the freeway?  Anyone else smell a fixed market?

[JBofBrisbane]

@harlanbee - this guy can build a vehicle like this in his garage, but try mass building them to sell. I think the most popular car in the U.S.A. is still a truck, isn't it (something like the Ford F250)? No need to "fix" that market...

[kenzo5716]

Some people are getting 85 mpg by putting a kabota 3 cyl diesel in a thiumph Spitfire or MGB. I saw one at a university and also at a car show. The guy told me it is an easy build and the kabota will bolt to the MG or Triumph tranny with a small modification.

[industrysfoe]

Yes these things are sweet, i built a couple motorized bicycles as well and they get around well around town 40MPH and anywhere from 120-150 MPG. now if you add a decent CVT and a custom carb/ GEET reactor the MPG totally skyrockets. lets all make a pledge to support these by keeping the technology public domain/ GNU patented. thats what i am going to do with my schematics here.

[dhymers]

Everybody should think like this man, I think it would be a great idea if high school auto shop teachers made these as projects.

And this doesn't mean you have to get rid of your regular car, this is perfect for commuting to work or getting the groceries, but if you want to drive out of state or do some auto-x :D you still have a car.

Freedom of knowledge and energy independance !

[itsmacintosh]

Dude i know i am planing on building a single person Mico car thats powered by a single cylinder diesel engine. It will go 65mpg and i estimate it to get 110 120 mpg my precursor to it worked great till someone stole it and wrecked it. If every one had a intown small eco friendly car for just in town use it will dramatically lower are CO2 foot print. But what do i know i am just a kid

[tomcatfranks]

A while back I built a velomobile (bicycle-car) that is pedal-powered plus has a tiny 27cc weedeater engine that will do 20mph, and get about 200mpg. I've seen more and more people building they're own vehicles similar to this, and I think it's awesome!!!

[fairyheli2]

@dhymers i use a motorized (petrol) bike to get around

[sausageslaps]

its unfortunate that this guys idea will be buried in red tape and regulations. its fine and dandy when the big auto makers trott out thier ideas of so called efficient hopelessly impractical cars which will cost thousands more to buy and have no infrastructure to support. by rolling out these cars, the big automakers get millions of our tax dollars for so called research. while our friend here will be fined for driving a so called unsafe car. that is the way of the world.

[upcycle]

It would be interesting to see the moonbeam towing a small, folding, cargo trailer. The trailer would give the moonbeam extra cargo carrying capacity.

[nestofdragons]

Great work, Joby. To me (European) it is weird to see that a American thinks about such a microcar. Thought that all up there was BIG BIG BIG. But ... hey ... this one is a nice idea. Work it out with parts that demand less time to assemble and you have a very nice kitcar microcar.

[upcycle]

You might like to check out the "folding electric car" video. It is the size of a bicycle trailer.

[nestofdragons]

I have looked at it. Man, really the basics. Ok, a bit too open for north Europe. But ... it has possibilities.

[leafygardens]

This is an excellent build showing original thought and skill. It works! In the UK petrol is about £1 a litre, about $2! If you are bright enough to create a practical and fun runabout then build one and show it on youtube. Well done mate. John

[samsmoot]

Haha. "Not pretty" is right! xcrying is right too. Give a geeky old geezer a garage, tools, and a junkyard full of spares, and you can save the world. (well.....). Too bad all the safety regs prevent more economical homebuilts from puttering around.

[sausageslaps]

its the system that stops people from beating the system. the rules and red tape prevent us from doing what this man has done. they will pull the rug out from under him. many like him have tried but have been thwarted by govt and big corporations

[Gillhoolee]

It's all good, electric, small whatever.

[xcryinginrainxx]

What the fuck is with all the bad comments? He made a microcar and a pretty good one too. He can go get what he needs to get done with the car.. Groceries, doctor, etc. He doesn't have to go buy an expensive car for all of that. Also he seems like a simple man..

[betatalk357]

simple, BUT EFFECTIVE! We should do more of this! This is more than enough for human beings to perpetuate easy living. But, like many people said, the big companies HATE this type of thinking because they don't get to enslave people working jobs they HATE to buy CRAP they DO NOT NEED.

[betatalk357]

Watch the movie, "Who Killed The Electric Car?" In reference to Davud vs. Goliath, Martin Sheen said, "Goliath won this round, but now, Goliath is facing new problems. Gas prices have soared." Someone else on there said, "If you go up against Goliath, there's no contest. But, if there's plenty of Davids, we can win."

[betatalk357]

I know a guy who knows a couple of guys who think like this: One who designed a car that can work as an airplane (he designed aircraft for Boeing);

2nd guy like this who builds stuff in his basement. He created a "bike in a box." Basically, you can buy a portable bike at a NYC airport for cheap and get all around NYC. MANY bike manufaturers bought out his patent for his invention since they're so scared that if it we mass-marketed, BICYCLE COMPANIES WOULD GO BANKRUPT IT WAS THAT GOOD!

[upcycle]

Please give more info about the "bike in a box" and the patent. If possible, please give us the patent number so we may all review it. Thanks.

[betatalk357]

Unfortunately, I don't have any info on the "bike in a box" since the guy who told me is in his 60s now and he saw this stuff in his 20s back in 1960. But, he described the wheels as collapsible, into 4 pieces, all pieces interlock, has a small, cube-shaped air pump to inflate tires, and when folded up, it was the size of maybe a suitcase or small table? Maybe smaller than that, but its supposed to be A LOT MORE portable than today's bikes.

[betatalk357]

But amongst that idea, he had A WHOLE BASEMENT full of useful ideas he told his sons to destroy since manufacturers all bought out his patents and NO ONE was to know about this stuff.

[betatalk357]

Another idea he had was "You arrive somewhere... but there's no chair nearby." So, in the size of a kid's lunchbox, your own PORTABLE CHAIR! Again, it unfolds like a 3D puzzle just like the "bike in the box," But, when completed, although it is a small chair, it still works effectively, but more to the point, THE CHAIR IS HEIGHT ADJUSTABLE!!

[betatalk357]

Look up "suitcase car" on the internet. One guy in th UK built one, but in 1991 an engineer from Mazda created 1. He thought the same way: While sitting at a airport, he was picking up his luggage and thought, "Okay, now I got my luggage, but how do I go through high traffic in Japan? More to the point, it'd be a nice idea to pick up your car at the same time as your luggage!"

[betatalk357]

The briefcase car reachs speeds of 20 MPH and is NO BIGGER THAN A BRIEFCASE! A company remodeled 1 since it was destroyed during testing, and the other they built got lost at airport luggage.

[SnyderToeStops]

Electric sucks! Been there-Done that! 100mpg Cabinscooter like the Moonbeam is where it`s at!

[cant7think7clearly]

"You get a lot of smiles"

Yes, but mate, those are smiles of sympathy. It's just too small & ugly for any normal car-buyer to buy it. If you want economy, go Electric.

[redbeast2]

And where do you put the contents of the battery after the battery wears out after 3 years?