31 December 2023
Why STEV-E?
The ecological emergency is on everyone’s mind. Yet more and more people drive large cars, and spend more and more hours stuck in traffic. Recent figures show that people in the Paris region spent an average of 6 days and 19 hours in traffic jams in 2019.
I found that figure incredible. Who is willing to spend more than 35 minutes a day almost stationary in their car?
Another study states that the average occupancy rate of vehicles in France is between 1.1 and 1.4 passengers. In other words, a large share of motorists move 1.5 tonnes of steel to carry their own 70 kg. We have seen better in terms of energy efficiency.
I quickly asked myself what the alternatives to the car were, why they were not popular, and whether there was a product to build there.
Mango velomobile (Velomobiel.nl) — photo: Pleksikon, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Looking closer, the car remains one of the best choices for comfort: public transport journeys are often longer and unpleasant, in overcrowded trains. A bicycle? Impossible for some trips, dangerous, and terrible in winter. A motorbike is already more practical, but still dangerous, requires a licence and a purchase.
Is there really no suitable form of individual urban transport?
While researching, I came across a type of vehicle that is very rare in France but fairly common among our neighbours (Netherlands, Denmark, Germany): the velomobile.
Satuna velomobile — photo: Pleksikon, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
At first sight, it is an extremely interesting vehicle. Far more efficient than a bicycle (not to mention a car) and almost as ecological, it lets you travel much faster and stay protected from the weather.
For example: if your work is 15 km away, you would not even think of cycling there (45 minutes, sweating). In a velomobile, it is 23 minutes, even in the rain.
Yet if you do not see them everywhere on the roads, there must be a problem:
- Price: hand-built in small batches, from €4,000 to €8,000 new or second-hand.
- Size: unless you hang it in the garage, it takes up a lot of space. Parking on the street is tricky.
- Style: sometimes nicknamed the giant suppository, it does not appeal to everyone.
- Safety: very low to the ground, so barely visible to drivers, and hard to secure against theft on the street.
STEV-E is an attempt to answer this question:
How can this very promising concept be adapted to the city, and to more people?