Ever wished you could find the time to exercise more? Well with the world’s first calorie-burning car, the FitCar PPV (pedal-powered vehicle), you can now get fit and workout during your commute, on the way to the shops and anytime you get behind the wheel.
The creation of Saudi inventor, Nasser Al Shawaf, the FitCar is said to burn a whopping 300 calories in just 30 minutes using the cars modified bike pedals which replace the accelerator and brake.
The bike pedals don’t impact the performance of the car, instead, they create an electronic pulse which connects to the accelerator.
There are three settings to control the speed of the vehicle, there’s Drive Slow, Drive Fast and No Drive for when your car is stationary – you can, however, keep peddling and keep on burning those cals.
With no brake pedal, the car has been fitted with a handlebar which is more commonly used in mobility cars.
The FitCar PPV has already been trialled in the Netherlands after Al Shawa teamed up with Dutch engineering company BPO to create the pedal mechanism.
It’s reported that as well as new FitCar’s, old cars can be retrofitted with the mechanism for under £1,000.
Frequent and extended driving has long been linked with weight gain and is generally considered to be a contributing factor to an unhealthy lifestyle, but the Saudi inventor wants to reserve the damage that driving can do and give drivers the chance to keep active while behind the wheel.
“We are increasingly time-poor and unfit, 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.”
Nasser Al Shawaf’s partner and BPO Founder and Managing Director, Oscar Brocades Zaalberg added:
“This is two years in the making.
“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 the after-market – 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 any body to give it a try.”
