The Zeppelin trike: Who needs a car?

With petrol prices edging towards £1 per litre, it's easy to forget that our appetite for fossil fuels is unsustainable. But what if fuel became unaffordable for most? What if we valued clean air, safe streets, health and vitality above effortless personal mobility? The roads would remain, of course, but instead of cars, most of us would turn to bicycles and human-powered vehicles such as the Zeppelin trike.

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The Zeppelin by The Future People is a human electric hybrid vehicle. It is powered by two riders aided by a 750w electric rear motor and cruises at 25 mph on flat ground. Built from aluminium and polycarbonate it weighs just 122kg and has a 30 km electric range. In America, the Zeppelin meets the legal definition of a bicycle in many states, making it street legal with no license, registration, or insurance required.

Zeppelin trike

The Future Cycles project was born from a realisation that current transport infrastructure would outlive the petrol-powered vehicles that currently use it; begging the question: “What transportation alternatives could replace these vehicles that would deal with shifting energy availability and still provide the kind of independent travel that our infrastructure requires?”

Any alternative would need to be much lighter in weight, highly efficient, use only local sustainable energy, and be inexpensive to own and maintain. The Zeppelin trike combines weather protection and carrying capacity of a car with the efficiency of a bike. The goal was to create a car-like experience in a vehicle that is human powered and legally defined as a bicycle.

Through the design, fabrication, and demonstration of these vehicles, The Future People hope to challenge us to consider the use of human energy and the resource of time as alternative options to fossil fuels.

What is a safe car?

Most people would not consider using a vehicle like the Zeppelin on the roads because of fears over safety, but what constitutes a ‘safe’ car. There is a perception that large, heavy cars such as 4X4s are safe, but any added protection they offer their occupants is very much at the expense of any other road user with which they collide. Human-powered vehicles are designed to operate in urban areas at low speeds. This makes them less of a risk to pedestrians and less damaging to the road surface. Furthermore, they are economical and near-silent. If the 20mph limits in urban areas were respected, HPV vehicles such as the Zeppelin would come into their own.

What is an HPV?

The term human-powered vehicle (HPV) usually refers to a type of bicycle or trike that has been modified for peak efficiency and/or outright speed. Riders sit in a recumbent position, enclosed in streamlined bodywork. The speed record for a human-powered vehicle of this type is over 80mph.