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Vehicles are non-living means of transport. Most often they are manufactured (e.g. bicycles, cars, motorcycles, trains, ships, boats, and aircraft), although some other means of transport which are not made by humans also may be called vehicles; examples include icebergs and floating tree trunks.
Vehicles may be propelled or pulled by animals, for instance, a chariot, a stagecoach, a mule-drawn barge, or an ox-cart. However, animals on their own, though used as a means of transport, are not called vehicles, but rather beasts of burden or draft animals. This distinction includes humans carrying another human, for example a child or a disabled person.
A rickshaw is a vehicle that may carry a human and be powered by a human, but it is the mechanical form or cart that is powered by the human that is labeled as the vehicle. For some human-powered vehicles the human providing the power is labeled as a driver.
Vehicles that do not travel on land often are called craft, such as watercraft, sailcraft, aircraft, hovercraft, and spacecraft
Land vehicles are classified broadly by what is used to apply steering and drive forces against the ground: wheeled, tracked, railed, or skied.
The word vehicle is derived from the Latin word, vehiculum.
Bicycle
-
- see Bicycles (see also Vehicular Cycling)
- see main article History of the bicycle
Tricycle
-
- see Tricycle
Quadricycle
-
- see Quadricycle
Velomobile
-
- see Velomobile
Electric road carriages
Steam road carriage
-
- see steam car
Steam tricycle
- See steam tricycle
At the other end of the scale, much lighter steam vehicles have been constructed such as the steam tricycle from the Comte de Dion in 1887.
Petroleum (gasoline / diesel) motor-carriages
- See Benz Patent Motorwagen
- See Ford's model T
- See Automobile
Road trains
A road train consists of a conventional heavy truck pulling three trailers or more, used in rural areas of Australia to move bulky loads such as livestock efficiently.
The motorcycle
- See Motorcycle
- See Gottlieb Daimler
Mechanical rail-vehicles
Mechanical water vehicles
Mechanical under-water vehicles
- see submarines
- see submersibles
- see diving bells
- see diving chambers
Mechanical land and water vehicles
- see Amphibious vehicle
- see Amphibious ATV
- see Hovercraft
Mechanical air vehicles
Mechanical snow vehicles
- see snowmobile
Types of vehicles
Legislation
European Union
In the European Union the classifications for vehicle types are defined by [1]:
- Commission Directive 2001/116/EC of 20 December 2001, adapting to technical progress Council Directive 70/156/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the type-approval of motor vehicles and their trailers[2]
- Directive 2002/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 March 2002 relating to the type-approval of two or three-wheeled motor vehicles and repealing Council Directive 92/61/EEC
European Community, is based on the Community's WVTA (whole vehicle type-approval) system. Under this system, manufacturers can obtain certification for a vehicle type in one Member State if it meets the EC technical requirements and then market it EU-wide with no need for further tests. Total technical harmonization already has been achieved in three vehicle categories (passenger cars, motorcycles, and tractors) and soon will be extended to other vehicle categories (coaches and utility vehicles). It is essential that European car manufacturers be ensured access to as large a market as possible.
While the Community type-approval system allows manufacturers to benefit fully from the opportunities offered by the internal market, worldwide technical harmonization in the context of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) offers them a market which extends beyond European borders.
USA
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Acronyms and abbreviations
See also
References
- ^ Scadplus: Technical Harmonisation For Motor Vehicles
- ^ Council Directive 70/156/EEC, about Type-approval of motor vehicles and their trailers, Commission Directive 2001/116/EC of 20 December 2001, adapting to technical progress Council Directive 70/156/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the type-approval of motor vehicles and their trailers
External links
- Green Vehicle Guide
- Strangest Vehicles In The World
- Council Directive 70/156/EEC, about Type-approval of motor vehicles and their trailers.
- Council Directive 80/1267/EEC: Amendment of Directive 70/156/EEC
- Council Directive 80/1268/EEC Fuel consumption of motor vehicles.
- EU Motor Vehicle Type Approval.
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Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 7 July 2008, at 14:21.
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