https://newatlas.com/transport/worlds-most-energy-efficient-vehicle-record-eximus-iv/
Considering that a Tour de France rider can produce at least 400 watts for an hour, that means that if there were no efficiency loss, he could pedal for an hour (400Wh) and that would transport 6 people 129km.
>0.517 Wh/person-km
I was curious how this compares to cycling.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_performance#Energy_efficiency
QuoteA human traveling on a bicycle at 16–24 km/h (10–15 mph), using only the power required to walk, is the most energy-efficient means of human transport generally available.[4] Air drag, which increases with the square of speed, requires increasingly higher power outputs relative to speed, power increasing with the cube of speed as power equals force times velocity. A bicycle in which the rider lies in a supine position is referred to as a recumbent bicycle or, if covered in an aerodynamic fairing to achieve very low air drag, as a streamliner.
Racing bicycles are light in weight, allow for free motion of the legs, keep the rider in a comfortably aerodynamic position, and feature high gear ratios and low rolling resistance.
On firm, flat ground, a 70 kg (150 lb) person requires about 60 watts to walk at 5 km/h (3.1 mph). That same person on a bicycle, on the same ground, with the same power output, can travel at 15 km/h (9.3 mph) using an ordinary bicycle, so in these conditions the energy expenditure of cycling is one-third that of walking.
So, ordinary cycling is about 20Whs.
Now someone needs to test a velomobile on rails.
Then you'd have to look at the efficiency of the energy sources (food production vs. electricity production) but that could all be very interesting.
>rails
That's the trick.
" U.S. freight railroads can, on average, move one ton of freight more than 470 miles per gallon of fuel"
https://www.aar.org/article/freight-rail-moving-miles-ahead-on-sustainability/