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Want to get fit but you don't like cycling? Like to get places quicker than walking but you feel guilty about burning fuel in a car in sedentary fashion? Well, rejoice: Saudi-based inventor, Nasser Al Shawaf, has created the FitCar PPV - the world's first calorie-burning car.
It's basically an old 'B8' generation Audi A4 Avant 2.0 TFSI automatic, in which Al Shawaf - in conjunction with Dutch engineering firm BPO - has replaced the throttle pedal with a bicycle pedal mechanism. This is attached to a flywheel, which generates an electronic pulse to engage the accelerator.
FitCar PPV 'prototype 2', though, is powered in the conventional way, so the 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine still 'delivers manufacturer-specification performance and economy', even though its driver is pedalling like a loon to keep it in motion.
As the pedals in the footwell are now, well, bicycle pedals and thus take up a lot of space down there, the brake has had to be relocated to a push-hand control conversion, as used on motability vehicles.
Three drive modes are available, which are Drive Slow (for heavy traffic), Drive Fast (for motorways and highways) and then No Drive, which is when the occupant is in stationary traffic but still fancies a work-out. A rotary dial on the pedals adjusts the resistance, from easy to difficult, so you can decide how many calories you want to burn, and FitCar PPV is patented internationally, while it awaits RDW approval in the Netherlands - which would ratify it for road use across Europe.
Al Shawaf said: "I work in many cities around the world where a 60-minute-plus car commute, each way, each day is not uncommon. This is an unhealthy way to waste more than two hours every day. So, I came up with the idea of the FitCar, which does exactly the same as any conventional car - getting us safely and comfortably from A to B. However, in the FitCar, you can exercise while you drive.
"Our studies suggest a calorie burn-rate of more than 300 per 30 minutes. We are increasingly time-poor and unfit, and so the FitCar PPV provides at least part of the solution to these two problems for those of us wishing to exercise more but without the time to do it. I'm really proud of the results."
Anything else?
BPO's founder and managing director, Oscar Brocades Zaalberg, added: "This is two years in the making. We started with a simple 'buck' to demonstrate how this could work, then tried it out for real on a Smart car. This is prototype two, an Audi A4 Avant, chosen for its cockpit ergonomics, allowing for a comfortable cycling position, with enough room for the physical action of pedalling. Our ambition is for the technology to be either adopted by a car manufacturer for a new generation of 'healthier' city cars, or for us simply to offer it as a conversion kit in to the aftermarket - for those wishing to add PPV as an optional active extra to their car. Once you get in the car and drive it, it is intuitive, easy to control and safe - I would encourage anybody to give it a try."
Zaalberg continued: "We are very pleased with our proof of concept, which has been trialled by many people in the Netherlands. There are several options to further develop and evolve the project. We could feasibly introduce regenerative braking, or different packaging so we can fold the pedals away and return to standard drive mode. We could also develop an App to go with the PPV to maximise calorie-burn, efficiency and to introduce different routes and challenges among a community of followers."