The Sporty Dutch ‘Superbus’ That Hits 155 MPH
- Posted on April 9, 2011 at 6:00pm by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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Ok, so “Superbus” is probably the worst name for this vehicle. Awesome, sports-car-looking-limo-thing is more appropriate.
Still, “Superbus” is what they’re calling it. It was developed in the Netherlands by that country’s first astronaut, Wubbo Ockels, who’s also a professor of aerospace sustainable engineering and technology, and can reach speeds of up to 155 mph. It’s also electric, according to the BBC.
It also can reportedly carry 23 passengers and stretches 49 feet. The register gives more specs:
According to chief designer Antonia Terzi, former chief aerodynamicist of the BMW-Williams Formula 1 team, the carbon fibre vehicle will “tackle the challenges of mobility, spatial planning, service detail and environmental demands all in one”.
Superbus packs lithium polymer battery-powered electric motors producing 530bhp, although it will need a dedicated road system to make use of all that power.
The vehicle is set to debut in Dubai next month.
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Comments (82)
Deutscher
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 11:54pmLots of odd negative comments here. Looks cool to me. It was no doubt designed to run on roads like the Autobahn that were built for higher speeds. I doubt the engineer was planning on mass production in the US. Modern materials are amazing. It’s cool to see them in action I think.
Report Post »But this is an another odd story for this forum
drago
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 11:34pmToo funny, you guys are killin me ;p
Report Post »texasfarmer
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 11:33pmHow much energy, generated by coal, gas, oil, lithium, will be needed to construct the bus? How much oil will be needed to manufacture the plastics? It does look like something from Europe.
Report Post »Patriot Z
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 10:50pmI gotta admit..its perty spiffy…nice lines too esp for a bus…please put lil stop signs on it heheh
Report Post »SIXBURGH STEELERS
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 10:23pmeff this…….. go steelers!!!!!!!!!
Report Post »teddrunk
Posted on April 10, 2011 at 6:45pmSeason is over. Steelers lost. They’re union is on strike. Big Ben is busy doing his best Charlie Sheen impression.
Report Post »teddrunk
Posted on April 10, 2011 at 6:45pmoops…their not they’re
Report Post »cripplecreek
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 9:51pmPublic transportation.
Because nobody wants to die alone.
Report Post »drattastic
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 9:46pmBreaking News !!! We hit land speeds of 155mph back in the 50s didn’t we.?
Report Post »mrpips
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 9:33pmLuckily no one was killed with a woman driver.
Report Post »MeteoricLimbo
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 9:21pmOscar Mayer look out
Report Post »flasho
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 9:00pmHow will it work for Foxwood Casino trips?
Report Post »Divothead
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 8:35pmNo way am I taking a ride at 155mph in 40 foot long monster with someone else driving.
Report Post »sissykatz
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 9:20pmDivot
That was my exact thougt!!!!!! The fastest I was ever clocked was 140mph. but I was driving. I do not want to be in anything but a plane going fast without my control.
Report Post »teddrunk
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 7:31pmCan’t wait to see the “short bus” version for the other kids.
Report Post »mrsmileyface
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 11:02pmThere already is a “short bus” version of it. Its called the presidential limo.
Report Post »ZaphodsPlanet
Posted on April 10, 2011 at 1:57amI think you’re confused…. the presidential limo is a “Rubber Bus”…..you know…. like the short one for “special” kids
Report Post »teddrunk
Posted on April 10, 2011 at 9:18pmOutstanding comeback..LOL..a 10
Report Post »fobama
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 7:16pmwe have those 2 there called limos! I own a limo company, I will put my cars up against that any day!
Report Post »mossbrain
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 7:13pmImagine getting in that thing with 22 other passengers, getting strapped in, taking off with high expectations, and then someone, me, cuts an eye watering fart. The passengers screaming for their lives, fighting with their seat belts to escape, coughing, covering their faces, the driver swerving uncontrollably. This is their fate.
Report Post »Non-sequitur
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 7:15pmAnd you would die the way you lived.
With a fart joke.
Report Post »bachstar
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 7:39pmMy eyes are watering just thinking about it, I‘m sure the windows don’t roll down.
Report Post »MontanaRob
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 7:11pmMan, that blonde driving looks rough! I wouldn’t want to meet her in a dark alley, or is it a him?
Report Post »Pat Alexander
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 7:09pmBack when the speed limit was 55, a preacher friend of mine always said “Jesus gets out at 56.”
I guess you would really be on your own at 155….
Report Post »JUSTANOTHEROPINION
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 7:06pmI like the disappearing door theme. It is actually practicle. 3 stars for that.
Report Post »zoo9guy
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 7:03pmLooks like an incredible amount of wasted money to me (probably a gov. grant) leave it to academia to invent an electric bus that has the same foot print as an older bus, but holds 1/3 the people. By the way Lipo-polymer batteries are suspected of self igniting and causing the crash of that UPS jet awhile back…stupid idea.
Report Post »Thevoice
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 6:37pmWill this compete with Barry Obamamans super trains ..O.. the Progressive Marxists Democrats will be so confused ..Use their human right to ride the Obamaman high speed train or the human right to the fancy Greyhound …Then the confusion to the human right to fix the road or the rail ….
Report Post »Contrarian51
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 11:42pmThat actually raises an interesting point. This thing requires a “dedicated roadway.” Gee, how about that? So does a train. So this is basically an electric train requiring it’s own roadway instead of rails, that will require billions, possibly by the hundreds, of dollars in supporting infrastructure before it can actually be tested, and then it will carry perhaps 5% as many people as a train. All aboard! Well, not all. A few aboard!
Report Post »Seddel Cougar
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 6:33pmI am sorry, there is nothing sexy, or fun, about taking the bus. It looks like a long sausage that someone sculpted a Ferrari style front and rear into (unskillfully) and then overcooked.
Make a supertruck and we will talk.
Report Post »Rayblue
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 10:59pmA burnt weeniemobile. Zappa would be proud..
Report Post »Showtime
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 6:29pmReminds me of a Stude—————————————baker !
Report Post »A Studebaker stretched.
teddrunk
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 7:30pmGolden Hawk?
Report Post »JohnFourteenSix
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 6:28pmHow Cool! The superbus could make kids actually WANT to get up and catch the bus for school!
Report Post »teddrunk
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 6:23pm155 mph, big deal…wake me up when it can beat a Bugatti Veyron…255mph.
Report Post »Rayblue
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 6:15pmBut can it pop a wheelie ?
Report Post »I can just see it high centered on an anthill now.
And it’s cornering ability must be spaceage too.
Rayblue
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 6:38pmWubbo ?
Report Post »MontanaRob
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 7:07pmRayblue
Report Post »Posted : Wubbo ?
———————————————————–
You know, where da wubbo meets da woad, huh huh huh!
Rayblue
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 10:29pmSounds like a Barney Frank topical decongestant inhalant….
Report Post »Vapowubbo…
Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 6:12pmImagine the smile of the officer who caught this thing going 155 inside of a 55mph zone!
Report Post »BetterDays
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 6:17pmOr the grafitti artist that caught it stopped.
Report Post »cheezwhiz
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 6:20pmIt was developed in the Netherlands by that country’s first astronaut, Wubbo Ockels, who’s also a professor of aerospace sustainable engineering and technology
Report Post »——————-
You mean a professor can INVENT stuff, other than hot air ? We don’t have such professors in USA anymore now do we ?
No wonder this thing will make its debut in Dubai
Glenn in Virginia
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 6:32pmBetter not take that monstrosity on any winding mountain roads!
Report Post »grandmaof5
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 6:42pmThere isn’t anywhere I need to get going that fast with someone else in control. Bad enough having to fly, although in today’s climate that would be under duress.
Report Post »Afternoon, SNOW, hope you had a good day.
walkwithme1966
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 6:48pmI’m sorry – call me old but 155 is just too fast. I heard on the news that Texas wants to raise the speed limit on some roads to 85 – I am used to 55. I am just not the age for the new technologies.
Report Post »http://maboulette.wordpress.com
theonefromabove
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 6:53pmYeah I kinda want one of those.
http://politicalbowl.com – Political Videos
Report Post »hifi74
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 7:09pmI strangely looks like a lamborghini stretch limo. Well at least kind of anyways.
Report Post »123gone
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 7:51pmThey’ve already got sceduled runs between Mexico and points North with stops in AZ. NM. and TX.
Report Post »Xcori8r
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 7:55pmSo the cost?
How about a million Euros a kilometer seeing as how you need to BUILD NEW ROADS for the darn thing!
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 8:25pm@Grandmaof5:
Evening, it’s going well here now, stopped raining and still COLD!!! Not going to complain much, for summer time frying the eggs in the shell just outside the door weather will be here shortly.
@Cheezwhiz
One of the people I volunteer with is a retired ASU professor, wonderful lady to talk with, and she has a online business as well. So yes, some American professors can do wonders in making things. Just do not look for any of them in the administration – save those making a mess of things as usual.
Report Post »APatriotFirst
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 8:30pmFast as hell, BUT DO NOT TURN A CORNER WITH IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don’t know one single place in US that this thing could go down a road and make a left or right turn.
Report Post »C. Schwehr
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 8:52pmIt’ll never see our shores….the interstate highway system is too screwed up from neglect to handle an electric pig that size…More importantly, HOW FAR CAN IT GO AT THAT SPEED???? 2 MILES?????
Report Post »82dAirborne
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 9:41pm@Snow – I don’t care. I don’t care about being PC, “Green”, MPG (or volts/amps per mile.) I don’t care about practicality.
I NEED one of these! No particular reason, I need one.
Report Post »Come on! The coolness factor is off the charts.
Enuff Zenuff
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 9:48pm.
Report Post »Dubai?, huh
I wonder how many wives the new owner has…
TXPilot
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 10:21pmSomeone better start building alot of coal-fired powerplants, because that thing looks like it will need a large supply of juice to keep it running.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on April 9, 2011 at 10:50pm@82ndAirborne:
Agreed with you on the coolness factor…any way a rocket engine could be mounted on the thing and tested on one of those dry lake beds?
Report Post »Creestof
Posted on April 10, 2011 at 12:39amThis explains the rise in oil prices…all the shieks want one for each of their relatives.
Report Post »thepatriotdave
Posted on April 10, 2011 at 1:43amI want one! But I want one with loudspeakers for the fake muffler noises. It would be pretty embarrassing to pull up to a HOT ROD and rev the motor to dare them to race and all they hear is a very slight hhhhhhmmmmmmm.
The Tea Party Revolution Continues…
Report Post »http://www.AmericasTeaPartyNews.com
rgranger
Posted on April 10, 2011 at 10:35amWALKWITHME1966
Report Post »speed limit has been 65 in most places in texas for years, 70 in some places…is that you always backing up traffic!!! I am going to be keeping an eye out for you. Don’t forget to add 3-5mph to your speedo for real speed, so you have more than likely been doing 50, just saying :)
1TrueOne55
Posted on April 10, 2011 at 11:54amYeah we do have professors that do this stuff but they are rudely defunded by the extreme left because that machine would add to the carbon foot print in some manufacturing process so they eat each other out of funding.
Report Post »Alky
Posted on April 10, 2011 at 8:38pm@123gone
Report Post »What would be the point, you can only get 29 illegals in it! lol