02 May, 2008

horse power?

This article in The National about a horse-powered car (i.e. a car that is literally powered by a horse on a conveyer belt) is very interesting...

"The vehicle, which is capable of carrying a passenger and driver, is said to be capable of a maximum speed of 70kph – as long as the horse is galloping and the road is long and straight.

While acknowledging that horse-drawn vehicles are hardly a new concept, Mr Mirhejazi notes that his invention is similarly easy on the environment. The horse produces the obvious emissions, he says, but the vehicle uses no petrol. Mostly, though, he is motivated by the advertising potential of the Naturmobil, which he believes could eventually earn him a fortune.

“Imagine you see this in the street, a horse-powered car,” Mr Mirhejazi said. “Can you turn your head away? No! Will you remember this image? Yes! If you put advertisements on the outside of the car imagine how effective that will be.”

The horse – which Mr Mirhejazi promises is never uncomfortable – stands on a treadmill inside the vehicle linked to a gearbox that is controlled by the driver.

The animal is provided with food and water and is also hooked up to a machine that monitors body temperature. If the horse is tired or overheating, an electric motor automatically takes over."


Does anyone else think the horse might be a tiny bit uncomfortable? or perhaps in imminent danger should the vehicle need to brake quickly?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

The next model will be the donkey power! That will be a big leap forward!

nzm said...

Coming soon to the Sh. Zayed Road fastlane near you.

Anonymous said...

Did someone get May 1st and April 1st mixed up?

Alexander said...

LOL

Posted about this deliciously potty story ages ago: take a look at their website (given at the bottom of the post).

The post (with some choice extracts from the brochure)!

Did The National fall at this fence?

hut said...

Brilliant!! I can see a whole new industry developing around this.
Small coupes powered by toddlers. Cement trucks with camels inside.

Anonymous said...

The story was the front page of XPRESS

Anonymous said...

The National seems to be finding quite a lot of, uh, inspiration in the pages of XPRESS.

The Fujairah bullfighting tale, which XPRESS covered several months ago, the International Humanitarian City story...

Seabee said...

From the slightly-faster-than-stopped speed of the internet for the last couple of days its what's being used to power Etisalat.

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