Comments on: Astrolab Solar-Electric Hybrid Vehicle

By: Aaron

Aaron — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:50:20 +0000

I note that Keith, evidently that rarest of breeds (Internet critics) doesn’t understand anything about the reality of automobiles in the U.S.

I didn’t say I didn’t want to see it here, I said it won’t be here. First, it’s nearly two years since it’s supposed “production” date. Second, vehicles that qualify as cars (four wheels) and travel faster than 35mph are required to pass USDOT and Federal Highway safety. This car can’t pass those. Just read about the vehicle.

Take one wheel off and you can call it a murdercycle if you want and then yes, it is perfectly legal on the highway.

So: either change the car, which would require retesting and probably retooling and design, or change the laws.

Where the video was shot makes no difference.

By: Keith Elliott

Keith Elliott — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:12:01 +0000

I note that Aaron, evidently an automotive expert, thinks the vehicle is unsafe. Do you suggest more so than any murdercycle, er… sorry motorcycle? And was not some (or all) of the video shot in the U.S.?

By: kvlampos

kvlampos — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:40:49 +0000

Astrolab if I’m not wrong, it hasn’t got anything to do with Latin. It was supposedly the first calculating machine, found in the Ionian sea, in Greece, and it’s believed that it was used to determine the position of a ship according to the stars. Like a very old, manual, gps system…

By: Aaron

Aaron — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:19:30 +0000

This car will never hit the streets in America because it doesn’t even come close to meeting government safety standards. So all of the arguments are moot.

By: PeterG

PeterG — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 07:38:49 +0000

But I still like Venturi’s “beach resort buggy” – which they name: Eclectic. It can even handle a modest incline as the opening scene from their video shows:

http://www.venturi.fr/IMG/Media/eclecticV7-1.wmv

By: PeterG

PeterG — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 07:29:56 +0000

We all know the positive arguments for why this is potentially a useful vehicle.

Now please go to Venturi’s site and download the video (link below). There are NO sequences shot while the car is driving up hill, and there are no sequences shot while the driver and passenger are attempting to enter the vehicle via some sort of overhead crane.

http://www.venturi.fr/IMG/Media/astrolabV7-2.wmv

The top speed of 120 Km/h is measured downhill with a tailwind. It crawls uphill painfully slowly.

By: manjit

manjit — Fri, 23 May 2008 15:03:17 +0000

Please proceed to mass manufacture it and sell it as cheap as possible as this type of car will help mother nature a lot.

Buy this vehicle as it will save the world. Else we are paying to get ourself destroyed

By: Renier Burger

Renier Burger — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:23:16 +0000

Is it possible to get hold of the Astrolab 16 kw electric motors? What will it Cost?

R. Burger