Vehicle

This article is about the means of transport. For other uses, see Vehicle (disambiguation).

Vehicles are non-living means of transport. They are most often man-made (e.g. bicycles, cars, motorcycles, trains, ships, boats, and aircraft), although some other means of transport which are not made by man can also be called vehicles; examples include icebergs and floating tree trunks.

Vehicles may be propelled by animals, for instance, a chariot or an ox-cart. However, animals on their own, though used as a means of transport, are not called vehicles. This includes humans carrying another human, for example a child or a disabled person.

Vehicles that do not travel on land are often called craft, such as watercraft, sailcraft, aircraft, hovercraft and spacecraft

Land vehicles are broadly classified by what is used to apply steering and drive forces against the ground: wheeled, tracked, railed, and/or skied.

The word vehicle itself comes from the Latin vehiculum.

The Trikke is a Human Powered Vehicle (HPV) Automobiles are among the most commonly used engine powered vehicles. A pedal-powered quadricycle parked on a Canadian urban street amongst the cars

1 Bicycle
2 Tricycle
3 Quadricycle
4 Velomobile
5 Electric road carriages
6 Steam road carriage
- 6.1 Steam tricycle
7 Petroleum (gasoline / diesel) motor-carriages
8 Road trains
9 The motorcycle
10 Mechanical rail-vehicles
11 Mechanical water vehicles
12 Mechanical under-water vehicles
13 Mechanical land and water vehicles
14 Mechanical air vehicles
15 Mechanical snow vehicles
16 Types of vehicles
17 Legislation
- 17.1 European Union
- 17.2 USA
18 Acronyms and abbreviations
19 See also
20 References
21 External links

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

see electric vehicle

see history of the electric vehicle

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 motor-carriage

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

see Trains

see Trams

Mechanical water vehicles

see Boats

see Ships

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

see aircraft

see Wing-In-Ground effect vehicle

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 has already been achieved in three vehicle categories (passenger cars, motorcycles and tractors) and will soon 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.