Many of us wait for the monsoon to come but when the rain gods hit hard, you're mostly stuck in deep waters. It's a yearly occurrence now in cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Pune to name a few. It is at times like these that you hoped you had something which could wade through this flood and well guess what there's someone in Philippines who's thought and acted over it.
Floods have become an all too common occurrence in the Philippines and to solve at least some part of the problem H2O Technologies, Inc., a privately owned and run Filipino company, have come out it, what they call the Salamander.
It took them five years to work on the Salamander and it is the country's first amphibious tricycle. It's available with two power plants: a petrol-powered version with a 250cc motor and a pure-electric version with a 5-kilowatt engine.
David Ong, Chairman of Board H2O Technologies said that, "The Salamander provides the perfect alternative which will work today but also tomorrow when the infrastructure issues have been resolved. Therefore, in a barangay, which may simply be waiting for floodwaters to subside, the Salamander would be perfect to allow workers to get back to their normal modes of transportation and make their way back to work."
The Salamander can carry a total of five passengers plus a driver on land and three passengers plus driver on water. On land, it can reach speeds up to 80 km/h while on sea it can do up to 6 knots.
H2O co-founder and custom car designer, Atoy Llave said that "Our team used the tricycle, commonly used throughout the Philippines as inspiration, while delivering some great style without compromising on structural requirements."
The Salamander rides on a modular steel frame with a shell made predominately of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene or ABS plastic. It also boasts of LED projector head lamps and tail lamps, a digital speedometer gauge, and even solar USB charging ports.
Under such conditions, then, the Salamander makes perfect sense and in India more so. Floods have always stalled cities and with something like this, you can just go with the flow.
Image Courtesy: H2O Technologies
