5. REVAi
The viability of electric cars in the long run is something which has been hotly debated in the motoring industry. Regardless of this, the Indian based REVA electric company based their whole business model on the idea by manufacturing an electric car which was launched onto the UK market in 2003. The REVAi is capable of doing 75 miles between charges thanks to its lithium ion batteries, which at the time was a remarkable innovation. This would seem to be incredibly relevant in the current age of high motoring costs, with fuel prices spiralling out of control. Additionally, a number of insurance companies are offering cheap car insurance through moneysupermarket.com to owners of environmentally friendly vehicles. However, the car never became particular mainstream, thanks mainly to its rather bizarre appearance and comically small structure which made all REVAi owners look like giants when they were driving it.
In 1963, the Peel Engineering Company utilised their good old fashioned British entrepreneurial spirit and set about making the worlds smallest ever car. The Peel 50 was the result, with its remarkable record remaining unbeaten to this day.
Despite this, only 50 of these cool cars were ever made, with the car being marketed as the ideal city car due to the fact that there was enough room for one small person and a single bag. Its original selling price was £200, but a Peel 50 is now worth upwards of £50,000 with it enjoying a status of being a collector’s item.
It is a problem which has troubled man kind for generations, but why can’t motorists buy a vehicle that can be used on both land and at sea?
Eccentric American Dave March set about addressing this cosmic imbalance by producing the WaterCar Python which was launched in the late 1990s with a selling price of $200,000.
The amphibious vehicle is powered by an all American Corvette engine which propels it to a top speed of 60mph at sea, or 125mph on the road. It is also fully customisable, with a range of 60,000 exterior colours available. However, regardless of the exterior decoration, it is very doubtful that WaterCar Python owners will fail to stand out in any crowd.
It would be very useful to own a car that was capable of travelling on the sea. However, it would surely always play on your mind that you should have opted for the car which was capable of flight instead.
This was what occurred to the founders of the Terrafugia Company which was set up in 2006 with the intention of designing the world’s first “roadable aircraft”. The resulting vehicle called the “Transition”, is powered by a Rotax 912s piston engine and is capable of a cruising speed of 107mph in the air, and a top speed of 65mph on the road.
The company even thought about how difficult it would be to park with long wings on either side of you, and therefore designed them to fold in when driving on the road. This means that the vehicle is unbelievably legal for use on both the road and in the air.
So far we have seen the world’s first all electric car, the world’s smallest car, the world’s first amphibious vehicle and the world’s first road legal aircraft. The next logical step is obvious the world’s first car in the shape of a cup cake.
This bizarre idea was the brainchild of eccentric artist Lisa Pongrace, whose creation is powered by a 24 volt electric motor which propels the cake to a dizzying top speed of 7mph. The lucky owner is also able to pick up lovely complementary hat to wear for a grand total of $25,000. Expect to see the Cupcake car dealership near you very soon.
