For The City: Environment Friendly and Stackable Rental Cars
10 Comments By Tal Siach on November 2nd, 2007 in EnvironmentWhy search for parking for hours in a crowded place with our cars when there is an environment friendly, electric mini car that is easily rented, driven and parked.
When I visited Belgium last year, I saw a number of spots where bicycles were stationed next to each other. This service brought by Cyclocity, provides sturdy and comfortable bicycles to be rented by tourists and others every hour and day of the week. These were placed in different strategic places in Brussels, and it was very nice to see different people using this service instead of taking a car, taxi, or bus.
Especially in large cities that are highly congested, driving your car sometimes just doesn’t pay off. Finding parking, paying for gas, and time spent for the two can sometimes be a burden.
The MIT Media Lab Group, Smart Cities, is currently developing an electric CITY CAR, which will enrich our lives, change mass transit, and help reduce pollution. It is being tested and further developed in New York City. If you have visited NYC you probably know how parking and transportation there is a never ending dilemma.
The concept of these cars is similar to the shopping carts at your local super market: easy, convenient, and space efficient. These are to be ‘stacked’ behind one another in convenient and prime locations. By being stacked, they take up less space and are able to be provided for more individuals. The City Car has space for two and is strong enough to take a trip around the city with it.
So how does it stack up? A part of the car stands up in order for the one behind it to stack up straight against it (also charging the electric motor). A group of six or eight of the City Cars would occupy approximately one conventional space. The design of the car is based on a “robot wheel” that holds the motor, suspension and steering.
These little cars look so fun to drive and park, I hope to try them out one day.
Via: Engadget
Cool Tech Related Videos
If you enjoyed this post you can - Subscribe Now to the Free Newsletter
Related Tags: city cars, smart cars, smart city cars, stackable cars, the smart car
November 2nd, 2007 at 11:28 pm
Ooh! These look like such fun! This is ingenious!
November 4th, 2007 at 2:31 am
Hi Neece,
True. These look like they would be really fun to drive. Truly innovative concept which is efficient and better for the environment.
December 1st, 2007 at 7:16 pm
[...] cities for an additional, environmentally friendly, transportation alternative. Similar to the Stackable Rental Cars, these are moving towards providing other means of transportation and keeping the [...]
January 15th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
[...] city cars are revisited with an awesome video presenting this cool concept. It is an electric vehicle that is [...]
November 5th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
[...] is some Smart Car which is simply powered by air. It is a new way for Environmentally friendly vehicles that may not [...]
November 7th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
[...] are various Smart Cars such as the City Smart Car, Compressed Air Vehicles and also these Smart Car modified to a become amazing looking Sports Cars [...]
November 21st, 2008 at 12:51 pm
[...] not in use. I think the design folks have had such a concept in their mills since long. The Space Efficient Car and Folding Bicycles were similar prototypes churned by some of the budding [...]
November 23rd, 2008 at 8:17 pm
[...] the many Segway Scooters that can be seen in the Segway Scooter Roundup, some may want to wait for Smart City Cars, and some would want actual Electric [...]
March 27th, 2009 at 9:28 am
so how do I pull my car out in the middle
April 10th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
@Anonymous
You won’t own a car to pull out, you rent a car and take whichever one is on the end.