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Here's my concept for a 2-person transit vehicle with best efficiency and highway ability.
Anyone who's built pinewood derby cars knows that the fastest car design is to bend one of the front wheels up slightly, so the car only rolls on three wheels but can't tip over and looks like it's following the rules of having four wheels. Obviously, such a vehicle has less angular momentum to spin up, and less friction and rolling resistance, same reason why a wheelbarrow with one wheel is the most efficient way to roll a heavy load across the lawn.
My concept for an actual vehicle is based on that idea. One of the front wheels has a hydraulic system which allows the wheel to raise up slightly off the ground, so that during city driving only three wheels contact the pavement. This would work similar to those Hispanic jumping systems often seen in California. However, it would not raise high enough that the frame of the vehicle could contact the pavement in the event of a sharp turn away from the side with the raised wheel. During aggressive or high-speed driving, the fourth wheel could descend to provide the extra stability of a normal four-wheeled vehicle. This would not have much effect on fuel efficiency as wind resistance becomes a much more significant factor than rolling resistance at high, continuous speed.
Another interesting consequence of this design is that it would not require a purpose-built vehicle for its application. Any extant vehicle could be fitted with a Hispanic jumping system on one wheel to allow it to raise off the ground, improving low-speed efficiency by 25%.
