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Pedal Power

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August 15, 2018

We get the ultimate workout behind th one-off car controlled by bicycle-style pedals

- Hugo Griffiths

Pedal Power

CARS may be a vital form of transport for over a billion people worldwide, but unless you’re a topflight racing driver they do little to help with physical health. Studies have found a lack of physical exercise kills three million people a year globally, but in the UK we spend over seven hours a day sitting down, with the average UK commuter travelling 54 minutes a day.

So what if commuting could be mixed with exercise? That’s what health-conscious Saudi entrepreneur Nasser Alshawaf asked a Dutch engineering firm.

The result is this adapted Audi A4 Avant. The FitCar PPV, or pedal-powered vehicle, has a normal petrol engine and automatic gearbox, but in place of the accelerator on this prototype is a set of pedals from an under-desk exercise machine. Put simply, the faster you pedal, the faster the car goes, giving you all the benefits of a modern car, but allowing you to exercise.

But while Alshawaf had the idea of combining a car with exercise, it was Oscar Brocades Zaalberg, and his design and engineering firm BPO, who made it a reality.

Workout

We’ve come to Holland to try out the PPV, to speak with Brocades Zaalberg and to learn how his team created a vehicle capable of giving drivers their daily workout without requiring a single trip to the gym.

Brocades Zaalberg explains how the project started: “Nasser is a tall, slim guy who is really into sports, and he travels an hour or two to his office, every day, just sitting in a car. He said ‘I want to use commuting time more efficiently, in a way that you exercise’.”

A number of options were considered before Brocades Zaalberg and his team settled on pedals. “We came with a rowing system, a muscle training system,” he says, “but we ended up with pedalling, because it is logical for moving forward.”

Auto Express

Cette histoire est tirée de l'édition August 15, 2018 de Auto Express.

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