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To: polarisnh who wrote (163253)	11/10/2008 11:40:47 AM
From: John Koligman	Respond to of 306849

Steve, I had not seen it, but I went thru the link you provided and I'm not surprised. I have admired guys like Kamen for years, he's gotta be a 'certified genius' based on all the stuff he has invented in many different fields over the years. It's too bad his Segway did not catch on in a bigger way, it's a really cool little driver... Best regards, John

To: polarisnh who wrote (163253)	11/10/2008 11:58:15 AM
From: Think4Yourself	Respond to of 306849

That car could have a market in the center of the country. In the south you need Air Conditioning, which is a huge power drain. In the north you need heat, air conditioning, and more power for snow. Again, huge power drains. In the west you need phenomenal amounts of power for climbing steep grades in the mountains (but some systems might be designed to recover some power on downhills). In the Northwest that car has no chance. Mountains, deep snow, and bitter cold. We have a "Smart" car dealer near me in Michigan, and I have seen several of these cars on the road this summer. They are probably fine for summer but I am very curious if I will see them in winter. They have very little ground clearance for snow, very little weight to compact the snow, and only 70 HP. edit: (they require premium fuel!) Even a 100 HP car can have trouble in fresh snow, and light weight cars have a lot of trouble getting going when there is ice at the intersection, which is why people put heavy bags of whatever over their drive wheels in winter. People who aren't in the auto industry take their vehicles for granted. There is a hundred years of refinements/improvements, and hundreds of billions of dollars worth of research/testing sitting in your garage. edit: Just discovered that the dealer near me appears to also be the US headquarters for Smart in the USA.