Rocket system that boosts a spacecraft into Earth orbit or beyond Earth's gravitational pull. A wide variety of launch vehicles have been used to lift payloads ranging from satellites weighing a few pounds (or kilograms) to large modular components of space stations. Most launch vehicles are expendable (one-use) systems; many early ones were derived from intercontinental ballistic missiles (see ICBM). The Saturn V, which launched the spacecraft that carried humans to the Moon (see Apollo), had three stages (see staged rocket). The U.S. space shuttle system (from 1981) represents a significant departure from expendable launch vehicles in that it is partially reusable—its manned orbiting component is designed for numerous flights, and its solid rocket boosters can be recovered and refurbished.

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Motor vehicle with plating for protection against bullets, shells, or other projectiles that moves on wheels or tracks. The tank is the chief armoured vehicle for larger military forces. Other military types include infantry fighting vehicles, amphibious landing vehicles, and mobile weapons platforms such as self-propelled artillery and antiaircraft guns. Infantry fighting vehicles, descended from the armoured personnel carriers of World War II and the Vietnam War, are armoured, tracked vehicles that transport infantry into battle but also serve as platforms from which soldiers can fight without dismounting. Armoured cars are wheeled civilian vehicles, ranging from commercial trucks to luxury sedans, that generally are equipped with armour and other amenities for securely transporting valuables and individuals over paved roads.

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or hovercraft

Vehicle supported above the surface of land or water by an air cushion, produced by downwardly directed fans, enclosed within a flexible skirt beneath the hull. The concept was first proposed by John Thornycroft in the 1870s, but a working model was not produced until 1955, when Christopher Cockerell solved the problem of keeping the air cushion from escaping from under the vehicle, and formed Hovercraft Ltd. to manufacture prototypes. Problems with skirt design and engine maintenance have restricted the vehicle's commercial application; today hovercraft are used mainly as ferries.

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Vehicles, derived from the Latin word, vehiculum, 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.

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 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

see Trains

see Trams

Mechanical road vehicles

see Cars

see Buses

see Trucks

see Vans

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

• Auto rickshaws
• Bicycles
• Buses
• Cars
• Coaches
• Vans
• Vehicles

Legislation

European Union

In the European Union the classifications for vehicle types are defined by :

• 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
• 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

Acronyms and abbreviations

See also

Main: List of basic vehicle topics

References

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