We'll confess -- the Segway
did a lot of damage to urban mobility as a whole, but General Motors (of all companies) might have just mended a wound we thought un-mendable. Unveiling today in Shanghai, the two-seater EN-V concept is a play on last year's altogether riveting (albeit forgotten)
P.U.M.A., and yes, it seems as if some of those design cues have worked their way into this one as well. The Electric Networked-Vehicle was engineered to "alleviate concerns surrounding traffic congestion, parking availability, air quality and affordability for tomorrow's cities," and they're also fully capable of transforming this place we call Earth into a next-generation Epcot. A trio of designs made their debut -- Jiao (Pride), Miao (Magic) and Xiao (Laugh) -- and we're told that twin electric motors and "dynamic stabilization technology" allow 'em to turn on a dime and operate autonomously (!) using integrated GPS. The Li-ion batteries can be juiced from a conventional wall outlet, and the expected range is around 40 kilometers on a single charge. Best of all? There's built in wireless of some sort, enabling your fellow EN-V owner-friends to keep track of your late-night escapades if you so allow. We know -- you'd buy one of each if these were available today, but mum's the word on when (or if) they'll ever hit the production line; meanwhile, expect something called a "Malibu" to remain in the product pipeline for the better part of next decade.
posted March 24th 2010 11:43AM
looks like a vacuum cleaner
@barac Yeah, it sucks like a vacuum cleaner too.
@Mr Death
I think they'll look nice when they start burning.....
Hey, combine this with the Toshiba Nuclear Cells and you've got the ultimate mobile terrorism utility.
@barac
I think it looks more like a giant gumball machine.
@barac
FML is this what we've come to? No wonder GM is circling the drain.
@Spiny Norman And it blows like bubblegum.
@barac
Apparently, WALL-E's vision of the future is spot on. Prepare for morbid obesity.
@barac I wanna hover in a hoover!
@barac
This is just what's needed in downtown Detroit. Now if only I can find anywhere down here tht still has working wall sockets.
@barac Half way to the people in Wall-E. This + McDonalds = very bad.
@barac
Your tax dollars at work.
@Funke Tobias Dr Well this thing is design by GM-SAIC, one of the profitable GM divisions, I too hope my tax dollar will not go to something that's completely impractical in North America.
@barac
Looks more like a hamster ball to me :)
@barac They say fashion is cyclical. Apparently we're back to the '80s where looking like a douche was hip.
How many of these "one day we will all own" concepts do we need?
Well look at the bright side. If you happen to get hit by an SUV in one of these it can also act as a coffin. With its' built in GPS your friends will know exactly where you are buried.
@Darkseider
Exactly!
@Darkseider
The idea is to get RID of the SUVs and traditional taxis in places like midtown manhattan, and instead flood the streets with autonomous versions of these. I think it's absolutely the future, and can't wait - especially if not having to pay a shady taxi driver makes my fare cheaper!
@Darkseider Lmao I was just thinking the same. I want one of those but I think I rather get a Bike.
@crawdad689
and like many ideas this will probably never happen.
You can't replace hundred years of common practice unless you build something new from the ground up. That's why people still use landline telephones even though there are a hundred ways not to.
If this wants to take off they would need to build a city that only uses this mode of transport.
People hate change. Especially when it looks stupid.
@arkweld I use a land line telephone because mobile phone signal sucks at my house, and dsl is the only internet available.
this is awful
these are our tax dollars at work, folks
lmao
Just lower the price on the Smart.
you have a weird idea of what's "hip".
Hi, um, GM?
Yeah, could you get back to work on the Volt, please?
Thanks.
TRON! I actually like the red design, would but one if the price were right.
And why didn't we let these guys go under again?
Seriously, how about you guys work on something that is practical, not silly.
Why don't they just make it legal for skateboards and bicycles to ride on the sidewalks. If they did, I would park my car.
If this thing doesn't have AC, you may as well walk, unless you are a little disabled or need to carry things or children. At least concepts like this beat cars.
There are no bumpers on ANY of those things. Do they really think you're not going to hit anything? Have they ever seen people "driving" cars (or any other motor vehicle for that matter)?
@whySoSerious How can you hit anything with those? I understand that some people do hit traffic signs etc. because they have immense SUVs that cover their field of vision, but in those you see everything, how close you are and all that. You had to be blind to bump into anything in these.
I hate these types of concepts. It seems every few years another automaker rolls out what is essentially a motorized wheelchair. I guess these sorts of concepts are cheaper to make than a real concept car, and it isn't like either one will ever see production.
For the record, here is Toyota's: http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/24/toyotas-i-real-wrap-yourself-in-a-killer-whale/
what the fuck is wrong with walking short distances? let's just use energy generated by fossil fuels and then transmitted at a loss of more energy to power a device that loses even more energy to friction and other inefficiencies of mechanical design! oh, and while we're at it, why don't we further isolate ourselves from those other dirty dirty people we have to live with in cities? let's make the cities just like the suburbs, where we never have to interact with another human being and we waste huge amounts of energy being selfish!
Awesome idea. No, seriously. I can't wait for this.
@trigonalmayhem
What do you consider a "short distance"? These have a range of 40 kilometers (25 miles), which isn't a "short distance" if one is walking. I doubt most people would be interested in taking even a 5 mile hike to work and back every day.
That said, these share one drawback with bikes & mopeds; they are not really suitable for mixing with heavy vehicles. For these to work, they really need their own roads that ban standard vehicles.
@LMcClure Pretty much every 'local' trip anyone takes is less than 25km, and a very large portion of the non-commute trips are vastly shorter than that (like a mile or two, unless you live in the boonies, but this is supposedly 'urban' transportation, so ...). One of the biggest advantages of living in an 'urban' environment is easy access to necessities. I'm not going to get into how these things would be no better for grocery shopping than riding your bike and how they use way more energy, etc.
Part of what's going on is a chicken and egg problem. We've designed our communities around cars for the last sixty years, so we don't put things people need to get to close to where they live anymore. The easiest way to encourage more walking to these destinations is to put them closer to where people live again, but that idea is catching on very slowly since everyone still drives everywhere and developers like to play the 'safe' bet nine times out of ten. The problem is, if you continue to plan like energy (esp. transportation fuels) will always be cheap, there will be a huge crisis when it's not. You have to plan ahead for that.
Ok, I'm meandering a bit, but the chances of adding another 'tier' of transportation space/infrastructure at this point is pretty much nil. We either have to make better use of the space we've dedicated to transportation already or just give up. Cities aren't exactly known for having an excess of space to build new roads. You can't have these things on the road with regular cars because it's not safe for the people in the wobbly vacuum things. You can't have them in pedestrian areas because it's not safe for pedestrians. The only thing you can really do is min/max your advantages/disadvantages of car/transit/pedestrian uses of current space. As it stands, it's pretty damned obvious cars and cities do not mix well unless you tear down half the city to accommodate the highways and parking lots, and then you get detroit, which proves there isn't much of a city left over after that.
I'm a little unimpressed about how everyone keeps clinging to the idea of a personal transportation device for urban living. No, it doesn't work. There are too many people and not enough space (not even to get started on the global energy issues that will soon put an end to that). Unfortunately if you want to go the decentralized route like america has, you run into those energy problems soon enough (trust me, it's coming). Americans have gotten both spoiled and isolated from their neighbours and can't stand the idea of having to mix with them. We want our privacy at home AND on the road, damnit, and we don't want to ever have to face the darker aspects of our society like the homeless people cast off by our heartless system. They're just lazy, right? Not mentally ill or had a bad break of luck in an unforgiving system, no no. It's easy to avoid thinking about them or dealing with the reality of the people who are crushed by the system that provides for you when it's just some guy with a sign on a streetcorner you can buzz by or roll your windows up and pretend doesn't exist. When you're walking or riding the bus you have to actually SEE these people and sometimes interact with them. It's no wonder suburbs are so damned conservative these days.
@trigonalmayhem Bikes are more efficient than walking, plus faster, and I'll assume greener to produce than just the battery in a electric vehicle; why don't we actually make that push real. Tax incentives to bikes that cost between $500-$1,200 (honestly, you can make it have a lower entry point, but this would be so it could have some better, lighter parts and also get people spending some $ though I don't think consumption is the best way to jump start an economy.)
@juanvaldez I agree 100% with you. I was leaving bikes out for simplicity's sake. They also make better use of existing road infrastructure than cars. I'm an avid biker too, so I was by no means discounting biking as a viable form of transportation. The one qualm is they do presently exist in a kind of 'limbo' state between cars and walking where they only have a little bit of dedicated infrastructure (bike trails and lanes), but fortunately they are able to use the roads, and you can move more people on the same roads with bikes, as I was saying before.
You can never substitute for a good old fossil fuel burning car. Even if you have one of these, you still need a good ol fossil fuel killing car for its space - weekly shopping, buying a new computer...good luck cramming that into your
miao.
We need hydrogen powered cars. Not crappy electric disability scooters (which rely on electricity coming from a coal powered station anyways...).
@davidmuful DING DING DING! Which is why the promised 'hydrogen economy' or whatever is a giant farce. Oh, and generating that hydrogen is hugely inefficient. You'd be better off burning the fossil fuels in a car directly like we already do today.
@Ignition1
Well, we can dream can't we? Hoping for a better future. Frankly, cars take up too much space in the city. These vehicles should have a detachable compartment for carrying stuff.
@trigonalmayhem I swear Honda made a decent Hydrogen powered car. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_FCX_Clarity
But its only available in Southern California where there are Hydrogen stations. All you need is a big company like Shell to be a first-mover in this market and invest in this technology - they'll be the first to implement hydrogen pumps at their own stations etc etc.
Considering Hydrogen costs the same as normal fuel (according to Wiki...) - if its true - then that's pretty good price considering its a brand new fuel.
Cool idea, but I'm going to need one that can seat 7... How about designing these so they can link together if needed?
@mbmanning 7? Did you have a litter?
@stabbytheicepic ha, more like a Brady Bunch kind of deal.
I mean, look at those happy people in the concept art! They're just FEET from one another, yet they don't have to hear the other couple's conversation! THE FUTURE!
Woe to the plebeian pedestrians of THE PAST, though! They won't fare very well when these things are zipping all over the sidewalks!
@trigonalmayhem I also find it curious that most of the concept art shows them in places with lots and lots of stairs. umm, yeah, about that ...
This makes me want to stop paying my taxes. What a disaster.
@bj1126 I don't know what is worse, this concept or the hummer.
@stabbytheicepic the hummer, they actually built that and lost hundreds of millions on it.