Case of the Versatile
(a case study from "The Velomobile as a Vehicle for More Sustainable Transportation"
Frederik Van De Walle's Master's thesis.)

The most advanced velomobile concerning production technology today is the
(semi-protoype) Versatile by Flevobike Technology. Although Flevobike is
principally the same company, in 2000 they sold all their models and model licences
(including the Alleweder and C-Alleweder velomobiles) in order to refocus their
activities on product development and prototype for third party industry customers,
mostly from the cycling industry (e.g. Giant Europe).

The Versatile velomobile is from the Alleweder type and is now Flevobikes only 
own product. It functions as a showcase for their competence as technology 
development company. The Versatile is the first velomobile to be designed 
Ôthe automobileÕ way, completely on computer (CAD), while manufacturing of 
the various moulds is done by applying the CAD 3D designs directly in the 
machining equipment (CAM). The whole project helps Flevobike Technology to 
gain experience designing complete assemblies for possible series production. 

However, the family company does not have the resources to move to a series
production. Anyway, the design has been very well received and integrates 
all the functions of the velomobile in an unprecedented way with purposeful, 
aesthetic design. Designing an improved version with expertise from 
e.g. the automobile industry could be the breakthrough to the first 
truly series produced velomobile.

The materials used for the body are thermoplasts, a first for velomobiles. The black
lower half is the structural part and is made from Twintex, a continuous glassfibre
reinforced polypropylene weave. This weave is vacuum bagged and heated in an
oven for a short time, so that the PP weave melts and impregnates the glass fibres.
This method allows for cycle times that are much shorter than the traditional hand
lay-up method. According to Flevobike, 10 bodies could be made a day with one
mold, and 20 bodies if there are two moulds and one oven (Vrielink, 2003), not a
huge number but already a huge improvement over the current small production
rate. Mechanical properties of Twintex are similar to a polyester-galssfibre body,
except for a much higher impact resistance and higher durability. Moreover,
thermoplast are much more environmentally friendly and can be recycled, contrary
to thermoharders. The upper, non-structural part of the Versatile is also a
thermoplast, a vacuum moulded PET (future ABS) which is painted from the inside.
Most of the remaining parts are made from aluminium.

The fact that such a small development company can design such an accomplished
velomobile is telling and lifts up a little bit of the possible future that could be.
A dozen pre-series protoypes have been sold at 6000 EURO. According to Vrielink
(2003), it would take about 10 million Euro investment and 3 or 4 persons from the
automobile design world in cooperation with the existing team (3 people) to develop
the Versatile concept towards a model ripe for successfull series production. It is
only in larger production numbers that the high CAD/CAM investments start paying
off by dramatically reducing development costs and production costs. A fullfeatured
velomobile, similar to the Versatile, would then cost about 3000 Euro for
the consumer if about 10 000 a year would be made (Vrielink, 2003). Higher
production rates would further reduce the price. Likewise, Rasmussen, the designer
of the Leitra says that industrial production would reduce the price of a Leitra to a
similar level. One can only imagine if there were much more models than now and
what could emerge from a strong competitive market.