This is exactly what I’ve been looking for. My commute to work is 45km, I need to take my dog with me (30kg) and myself and a little luggage. I was considering a pony 4 but would prefer the 45kmh of the vm45. A really super idea. Thank you.
Reducing weight is also in our opinion the key to reduce consumption in personal transport and the only way to match a limited supply of renewable energies with the needs of 8 billion people on our planet
Very very nice, i think a tandem version could be the next step. Especially as long as it still can count as a velo since then you could use it to go on any traffic free road with for some romantic excursion.
Very nice! Good work! Very interested in buying one if you get it homologated. How about weight, brakes, measures like wideness, height and lenght? If it is going to be a speed pedelec it has to be conform some European laws on braking for example, so I suppose you can't reach that with just drum brakes on the front wheels......... Good luck with the homologation, I like to see it coming for sale!
Hi. Tires can be changed without removing the wheels. The easiest is to put the whole bike on the side on foams like shown in the video and than you have the best access. I will make a next video of this to show. The best will be to use tires with maximal puncture protection so that situations when you need to repare a flat are reduced to an exception.
twice the size twice the weight? how well does it go without an e- motor? so u pedal to charge the batteries for the head lights? very true it is the bridge between a velomobile and a car
You said you work on homologation - does that mean, it would be possible to drive the velo legally on Czech/European roads 45km/h (I guess with driving licence and licence plate)? That would be excellent!
Hi Brian, thank you for the support. We have our hands full with finalising technical details and have it legal in Europe and are not planning for the moment to legalise it in the USA till 45 km/h. If there is demand form the USA, we can sell it as a bicycle. In most of the states the speed limit is 20 MPH if I remember well, this is already an interesting speed for the VM45. In Europe this is only 25 Km/h. It is also possible to use more powerful motors till 1000W I believe, where in Europe this is only 250W. SO maybe the need to register it as a light motorised vehicle is not necessary. But again, at Katanga, we do not have the capacity today to go into details of this and solve this. It would need some enthousiastic American to solve this. @@Brian-bp5pe
WC45 ???? It is very similar to the one from Denmark 1987, En Ellert U36. Top speed of 40 kilometers per hour. Can drive up to 70 kilometers. It has a net weight of 285 kilos, of which the batteries alone weigh 90 kilos. The vehicle is 2.73 meters long, 1.06 meters wide and protrudes just 1.22 meters into the air. In the open state, the carriage protrudes 2.10 metres.
@@SuperDodoe I can't stand anymore this ridiculous objection... So while you drive you don't see manholes, cats, dogs, Ferraris, Lotuses etc... It's not invisible, it's just unexpected. Paradoxically, you'll spend more time and attention watching something unexpected. The only situation where visibility may be an issue is when the velomobile is less than a meter close to your car, or better I should say truck because car windows aren't that low... how many times does it happen? It's unbelievable how nearly nobody realize this! As for sweat, open the window and don't push so hard on the pedals, add an inner fan, don't choose black paint and don't ride through Sicily in july... Before being available to public I bet they'll add cooling vents. If you simply don't like it, don't like it...
@@strayminogaming2189 Well said! I am also sick and tired of hearing semi-blind car drivers complain that we are invisible. Even a regular velomobile is as high as a low sports car. No-one says sports cars are dangerous in traffic because of their height! Or that they should carry a flag on a pole!
A question regarding EU in general and Sweden in particular; will the homologation mean that it will be automatically legal in all EU countries? Or may each country apply some new rules of their own? An acquaintance here in Sweden bought a 45 km/h speed pedelec bike from Germany, and he had to tackle a lot of hassles with the authorities to get it street legal.
Hi Per! Yes the goal is to obtain the type approval with validity for the whole EU. With this every EU country is legally bounded to accept it. This does not mean that there might not be some issues to solve when asking the local administration for the number plate or when ordering the insurance. All should be solvable. There can however be different rules per country concerning the obligation of wearing a helmet, safety belt or the place on the road for this type of vehicle.
Yes indeed. We took this possibility into account in the development and it influenced the choice of the entry door. With a Panel of 0,8m x 2m you have 300 WP and this allows traveling without recharging on sunny days. An alternative is to take a foldable solar panel in the trunk and unfold when making a longer break.
Rain... Snow... Cold... Slippery roads... Punctures... Of course it costs a hell of a lot more, it's like riding a Renault Twizy but with much less consumption, much more range and the possibility to slowly pedal it to destination if something goes wrong. Only con is that it's not as safe in case of crash...
Unfortunately the microphone is not adequate for a space with an echo. Most of what was said was incomprehensible for English speakers. Great concept, though!
thank you for the feed back. The quality of the sound is indeed bad, sorry.We did not wish to postpone this video and made it without help. Next video will be on professional level.
So much spacd for luggage - would be perfect for a camping trip. But no! It has a max capacity of 120kg - so barely enough to carry a repair kit and a small bottle of water alongside the driver... Seriously?
The maximal vehicle weight of 200 kg is not a hard limit and it will not brake in parts if you go over it for some time. We do strength analysis and durability tests with this weight to be sure that after 16.000 km all still functions well. Much heavier loads would demand a heavier construction and a heavier empty weight what is against our goal to keep the vehicle lighter than the rider. Having said that, 120 kg max capacity means still a lot of load for the average riders...
Чомусь якщо економний і прогресивний автомобіль то все це перекреслює жахливий дизайн та непрактичність. мені навіть соромно було б на такій машині їхати
This is exactly what I’ve been looking for. My commute to work is 45km, I need to take my dog with me (30kg) and myself and a little luggage. I was considering a pony 4 but would prefer the 45kmh of the vm45. A really super idea. Thank you.
Were you able to get your dog into it ?
So great to see a vehicle filling some of the space between velomobile and electric car. Great work
Fantastic project, it deserves a lot of success!
Beau projet ! Actuellement j'utilise avec satisfaction le Quattrovelo mais je serai content de pouvoir teste le VM 45 👍
Voilà un véhicule! Qui me parait pratique pour faire des courses ou des vacances avec des affaires de camping, vu son volume intérieur intéressant. 🤩👍
By far one of the best projects to folow. I hope you are going to flood the market and demonstrate that weight is the key to reduce consumption.
Reducing weight is also in our opinion the key to reduce consumption in personal transport and the only way to match a limited supply of renewable energies with the needs of 8 billion people on our planet
Very very nice, i think a tandem version could be the next step. Especially as long as it still can count as a velo since then you could use it to go on any traffic free road with for some romantic excursion.
Hello! Great pleasure to see the VM45 on the road!!!! Congratulations.
See you. 😉👍👍👍
Thank you! 👍
Wow that is an impressive design and construction!
Congratulations on the progress you are making with this vehicle!
Very good work!
How much will such a velomobile cost?
Jolie, très pratique pour le voyage ça doit être confortable, peut-être la prochaine 🤔
impressive!
Wow - make a two seater as well and I am sold!
Very nice! Good work! Very interested in buying one if you get it homologated. How about weight, brakes, measures like wideness, height and lenght? If it is going to be a speed pedelec it has to be conform some European laws on braking for example, so I suppose you can't reach that with just drum brakes on the front wheels.........
Good luck with the homologation, I like to see it coming for sale!
Hi Adri, thanks for the support! Look to our website www.katanga.eu under the VM45 page for more details.
how much
how to access the tyres ? In case of a flat or simply replace them ?
Hi. Tires can be changed without removing the wheels. The easiest is to put the whole bike on the side on foams like shown in the video and than you have the best access. I will make a next video of this to show. The best will be to use tires with maximal puncture protection so that situations when you need to repare a flat are reduced to an exception.
A Waw and a Wow!, definitely something out of Thunderbirds, Wowee.
twice the size
twice the weight?
how well does it go without an e- motor?
so u pedal to charge the batteries for the head lights?
very true it is the bridge between a velomobile and a car
You said you work on homologation - does that mean, it would be possible to drive the velo legally on Czech/European roads 45km/h (I guess with driving licence and licence plate)? That would be excellent!
exactly, you understand that well.
@@katangavelomobile115 Is there any hope of making this vehicle so that it is "street legal" in the USA?
Hi Brian, thank you for the support. We have our hands full with finalising technical details and have it legal in Europe and are not planning for the moment to legalise it in the USA till 45 km/h. If there is demand form the USA, we can sell it as a bicycle. In most of the states the speed limit is 20 MPH if I remember well, this is already an interesting speed for the VM45. In Europe this is only 25 Km/h. It is also possible to use more powerful motors till 1000W I believe, where in Europe this is only 250W. SO maybe the need to register it as a light motorised vehicle is not necessary. But again, at Katanga, we do not have the capacity today to go into details of this and solve this. It would need some enthousiastic American to solve this.
@@Brian-bp5pe
my dream,please ask the price
WOW,
it's not a car, not just a bike…
it's a KargoW !
WC45 ????
It is very similar to the one from Denmark 1987, En Ellert U36.
Top speed of 40 kilometers per hour.
Can drive up to 70 kilometers.
It has a net weight of 285 kilos, of which the batteries alone weigh 90 kilos.
The vehicle is 2.73 meters long, 1.06 meters wide and protrudes just 1.22 meters into the air.
In the open state, the carriage protrudes 2.10 metres.
4:50 on the road.
How do you not overheat while pedaling in the coffin?
Hahaha...I'm getting hot and sweaty just thinking of it. Imagine being down low and less visible to surrounding traffic
@@SuperDodoe I can't stand anymore this ridiculous objection... So while you drive you don't see manholes, cats, dogs, Ferraris, Lotuses etc... It's not invisible, it's just unexpected. Paradoxically, you'll spend more time and attention watching something unexpected. The only situation where visibility may be an issue is when the velomobile is less than a meter close to your car, or better I should say truck because car windows aren't that low... how many times does it happen? It's unbelievable how nearly nobody realize this!
As for sweat, open the window and don't push so hard on the pedals, add an inner fan, don't choose black paint and don't ride through Sicily in july... Before being available to public I bet they'll add cooling vents.
If you simply don't like it, don't like it...
@@strayminogaming2189 Well said! I am also sick and tired of hearing semi-blind car drivers complain that we are invisible. Even a regular velomobile is as high as a low sports car. No-one says sports cars are dangerous in traffic because of their height! Or that they should carry a flag on a pole!
@@strayminogaming2189what if I live in Sicily? :)
@@PRH123 open everything you can open at every stop... And maybe better add a small fan inside too...
Does it come with air conditioning?
A question regarding EU in general and Sweden in particular; will the homologation mean that it will be automatically legal in all EU countries? Or may each country apply some new rules of their own? An acquaintance here in Sweden bought a 45 km/h speed pedelec bike from Germany, and he had to tackle a lot of hassles with the authorities to get it street legal.
Hi Per! Yes the goal is to obtain the type approval with validity for the whole EU. With this every EU country is legally bounded to accept it. This does not mean that there might not be some issues to solve when asking the local administration for the number plate or when ordering the insurance. All should be solvable. There can however be different rules per country concerning the obligation of wearing a helmet, safety belt or the place on the road for this type of vehicle.
If you put only one solarpanel on your vehicle, you have a car, that can run on sunny days without limit, without recharging, without fuelcost!!!
Yes indeed. We took this possibility into account in the development and it influenced the choice of the entry door. With a Panel of 0,8m x 2m you have 300 WP and this allows traveling without recharging on sunny days. An alternative is to take a foldable solar panel in the trunk and unfold when making a longer break.
If that’s a thing, I want 4 powered motors and 4 48v 20aH batteries.
What is the advantage of this compared to an e-bike? It probably cost more.
More of a disadvantage as it's less agile and has less visibility from cockpit. Plus it's gotta be hotter than a sauna in hell
Rain... Snow... Cold... Slippery roads... Punctures... Of course it costs a hell of a lot more, it's like riding a Renault Twizy but with much less consumption, much more range and the possibility to slowly pedal it to destination if something goes wrong. Only con is that it's not as safe in case of crash...
Unfortunately the microphone is not adequate for a space with an echo. Most of what was said was incomprehensible for English speakers. Great concept, though!
thank you for the feed back. The quality of the sound is indeed bad, sorry.We did not wish to postpone this video and made it without help. Next video will be on professional level.
@@katangavelomobile115 Thank you for responding. I wish you well with this project. It seems ideal.
Тем временем случайная ветка сносит удобно торчащую голову
Is it like making a coffin on wheels out of a bicycle, from which nothing is visible?
So much spacd for luggage - would be perfect for a camping trip. But no! It has a max capacity of 120kg - so barely enough to carry a repair kit and a small bottle of water alongside the driver... Seriously?
The maximal vehicle weight of 200 kg is not a hard limit and it will not brake in parts if you go over it for some time. We do strength analysis and durability tests with this weight to be sure that after 16.000 km all still functions well. Much heavier loads would demand a heavier construction and a heavier empty weight what is against our goal to keep the vehicle lighter than the rider. Having said that, 120 kg max capacity means still a lot of load for the average riders...
14000 EUR??? For what??? Better to buy a car at this point.
Quite interested in ebikes but have to say, it serves dual purpose, not only an electric cycle but also, when things go wrong, a coffin !
You're right. When things go wrong it's far better being stuck in the middle of nothing.
Or not? 🤔
Чомусь якщо економний і прогресивний автомобіль то все це перекреслює жахливий дизайн та непрактичність. мені навіть соромно було б на такій машині їхати
Too slow for motorway.
Труповозка за 12000 евро. Смех
A Waw and a Wow!, definitely something out of Thunderbirds, Wowee.