City transportation goes more electric and sustainable with researchers all geared up for developing highly efficient electric cars meant for city commutation. The one from MIT, dubbed the Hiriko is an outstanding concept and exclusively meant for shared transportation. MIT recently uncovered the smart, foldable and stackable City Car concept, which will arrive in European cities by 2013, but will not be available for individual use. They plan to deploy a squad of 20 Hirikos in Spain next year to check their suitability in a sharing transportation system.
Hiriko comes with a special design and it can travel 60 miles on a single recharge. The car, though electric, doesn’t have a centralized motor; instead, it has wheels with their own integrated motors, suspension, brakes,etc.. There are no doors; the front windshield entirely opens up letting the passengers climb in and out.
Hiriko is stackable; as you are done travelling, the rear wheels bend towards the front wheels, thus collapsing the vehicle to a small unit. This way, three Hirikos can be stored in a regular parking lot, making it a super city car. A sharing transportation system is planned in many European cities with Hirikos.
People can join the sharing system and members can take the cars for several hours. Success of the city sharing system will bring Hirikos in many cities like Berlin, Barcelona, Malmo, San Francisco and Hong Kong. Hiriko comes with for a price of $12,500.
Via: Dvice
