Move Over, Flintstones This human-electric hybrid car is powered
by rowing, not running The history of hybrid vehicles includes
as many grand ideas and false starts as practical successes.
This is especially true for human-powered hybrids—the steam
bicycle, for instance, is not much in use these days. But
environmental concerns are shifting the balance. The latest
candidate for hybrid stardom? The human-electric car. The
concept is getting a big push from father-and-son team Charles
and Chuck Greenwood. Their Seattle, Washington, company,
HumanCar, is slated to release its latest model, the Imagine PS,
on Earth Day 2009. They have already received more than 100
preorders for this low-speed car, which will sell for an
estimated $15,500. Charles Greenwood, a mechanical engineer who
says he has always loved building hotrods, worked for 30 years
to develop a four-wheeled car powered by humans alone. The
Imagine PS is the next step: a human-electric hybrid that can
run on human power, a battery or a combination of