MIT dreams up a stackable electric rental car for cities
We've all seen the stacks of shopping carts at your local grocery or big box store. There are also the bike rental systems in various major cities like Paris. Now the mavens at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have taken those two concepts and combined them something akin to car sharing services like ZipCar. The result is the folding City Car. The creators have devised an electrically-driven two seater with a rear axle mounted on a folding arm that allows the machine to shift into an upright position. This allows six cars to slotted into the space usually allocated for one conventional car. The cars would be made available at transportation hubs like airports, train and bus stations. People could commute to such hubs and then rent one of these minis to do their business around town. When they are finished they just drop it off where they got it and head home.
[Source: MIT Technology Review, thanks to Domenick for the tip]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
dv 9:23AM (11/02/2007)
Seems only advantagous to the rental company as it saves space on the lot they are piled up in. But it is a good way to collect loose change from under the seats.
:-)
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Throwback 9:45AM (11/02/2007)
I like this idea! This type of car sharing makes sense. Although why you would need a 2-seater in a city that presumably has a mass transit system, is another question. Why not take the bus?
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BassClef 12:41PM (11/02/2007)
This would work well in Alabama's cities. Birmingham and Tuscaloosa are too spread out to have convienent public transit. An electric city-car rental service would allow people to drive to the city, drop the ICE car off at a garage, and go about their business without idling away gas in traffic.
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Chris M 5:07PM (11/02/2007)
Oh, my! a car that makes the Smart look big! So far all we have are drawings and artistic renderings, they don't have a working prototype yet.
With that design and limited space for either IC engine or batteries, performance and range may be limited. Indeed, I suspect that if it was ever built, it would be a NEV class vehicle, with limited speed and range.
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