FELA Mission Elaborated

It is a brief on the purpose, primary markets, and region of operation. It may include... fundamentals such as the values or premises, competitive advantages, and vision:

FELA Purpose

One-third of human material and energy consumption and consequent environmental harm comes from transportation.

​​In our post-industrial age, when the mass of workers don’t commute between homes to jobs, urban trips have become personal, i.e., sporadic and frequent (the US citizens average 4.7 trips/day).

Two out of three cars in cities are occupied by a driver alone. It's not an easy-fixable cultural quirk; that's the reality, and no exhortation about trip sharing will change it essentially.

Urban public transit and cars are redundant in performance, thus in size and weight: an individual can move around a city at 50km/h in a one-seat personal vehicle using dozens of times less energy and material. In a lifecycle analysis, while being even more performing, a functionally minimal personal vehicle can be 100 times cost efficient to the environment than a car

Granted, this PV won’t provide limousine-like comfort and prestige, however, by abandoning cars, the human race will be 20% closer to sustainability in both economical and physiological sense.

Besides, notions about "comfort", especially "prestige" are cultural. A morbidly obese won't find comfort anywhere, and the societal value of a man isn't defined by the luxury of a vehicle that carries around his brainless butt, just the opposite.

FELA startup promotes new active personal vehicles to help solve transport-induced financial, health, and environmental problems.

FELA Distinction

FELA differs from the closest analog, a velomobile, in greater agility, mobility, convenience, ergonomics, safety, and economy.

We’ve developed FELA and ensured technical feasibility at acceptable production costs provided conventional industrial technology.

It is time to persuade people to meet their mobility and physical activity needs with a 40x leaner vehicle.

FELA Primary Markets

1. Utility Cyclists who want to ride in any trip conditions to carry bigger cargo, or the cycle-commuters who are uncomfortable in or unfit for city traffic, or those who live in hilly or poor infrastructure areas;

2. Eco-conscious or money-stressed drivers who quit on or can't drive for any reason (an impairment or license suspension, etc.) or those who decided to redirect spending on cars to more rewarding pursuits;

3. Adventurous cyclists of vibrant lifestyles who want thrilling, power-assisted rides however much safer than on MTB, more physically-emotionally engaging and eco-friendlier than motorbike or ATV;

4. Cycle-tourists who want to comfortably travel for a few hours at 30-50 kph with no range anxiety since the energy-independence is secured by to ambient sources like sun, wind, or streams in the wilderness unreachable by or restricted to more nature-damaging motorized vehicles;

5. Walkers who would confidently cycle within or beyond their usual itinerary in the car-like micro vehicle and without car-related hassles and expenses;

6. Leisure cyclists, disappointed with treadmill or stationary bikes, who want to combine a workout with a joyride while running their errands or socializing on park bicycle trails with like-minded pals;

7. Mobile operatives: law enforcement officers, rangers, and any service personnel who ride horses or bikes in line with their duty or by business, like delivering food or mail, etc., parks keepers... or anyone who has to move up to a heavy cargo with frequent stops;

8. Communities who want to live and raise children in car-free, livable neighborhoods or smart cities up to 20 km in size of a million population (culturally optimal urbanism);

9. Rehab patients, for whom FELA is both a mobility and physiotherapeutic device that increases both independence and healing or fitness rehabilitation rate;

10. Teens or students who want to have a “cool” personal vehicle before eligibility or solvency for a car, or better yet, to grow into car-free adulthood;

11. RV owners who can replace big, expensive gas-guzzlers with ultra-light, compact, energy-independent vehicles that can be part of their home (tent) or hauling a cabin, “smart-for-one”;

12. Golfers or parkgoers who want to ride FELA all their way from home to the golf field or conservation, car-restricted areas and around them;

13. Organizations: any with the funds allotted to solving the transport-induced sustainability problems, tour agencies promoting adventurous, eco-friendly, active, and educational travels, the military who can use FELA as the lowest infra or noise signature all-terrain scout vehicle.

FELA Co Regions of Operation

Although FELA can be retrofitted with an extra battery to become highway-worthy, it defies FELA's design intent as an active, eco-decent vehicle because a human contributes only 5% of the total power needed for highway cruises.

So, FELA's main applications are in urban areas or adventure travel in the wilderness.

The total costs to own (TCO) FELA are 40th of the cost of the car. That makes FELA an unmatched proposition for low-income people in regions with typically poor road networks or of undrivable terrains.

The socioeconomic development of these rural regions needs a versatile vehicle to move crops to the local market and do this job hundreds of times greener than the extremely polluting two-stroke engines usually powering the villagers' vehicles. It won't surprise me if the effective cost of a donkey as a vehicle would be higher than that of a FELA.

FELA is not meant to serve interstate travel or freight. High-speed rails (HSR) must be developed to complement FELA for sustainable intercity transportation.

FELA Co Values and Vision

We value wisdom, reason, rationality, creative efficiency, and decency to ourselves, others, and Nature.

We see mass-adopted FELA as the collective action solution rather than a textbook collective action problem, which is the case with cars.

The urbanites will ride FELA as swiftly as on a scooter but much safer;

The cycle-tourists will enjoy energy independence on longer self-supporting travels;

Daredevils will be thrilled with the most aggressive, still safe ride they’re capable of;

Business owners will easily maintain FELA at a higher profit for less than $500 annually.

Mobility with FELA is a hundred times more resource-efficient and healthy that will improve the human capital of any nation on Earth.