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Tuesday, 21 February 2012

Rinspeed Dock+Go provides bolt-on solutions for small electric cars


If you live in a traffic-nightmare city like New York or London or Bangkok, an ultra-compact urban electric car is great. They're so tiny that they fit in the smallest parking space, they're quiet, they're often exempt from congestion charges and they're tailpipe emission free, which is important if you live where the air is so dirty that it's visible. Unfortunately, they also have all the boot space of a glove box and the travel radius of a tortoise in a hurry. Unless you have the ideal lifestyle that allows you to work within the vehicle's limitations, there will come the time when you'll need to carry more than a messenger bag or drive farther than a single battery charge. When that happens, you'll probably wish you had some way to magically add an extra boot or a bigger battery. Rinspeed's Dock+Go concept car looks forward to a day when that may be possible... Continue ReadingRinspeed Dock+Go provides bolt-on solutions for small electric cars
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2 comments:

  1. CthelTuesday, 21 February 2012 at 04:48:00 GMT-8

    Well, the concept of a modular car looks like a good one, provided a few details can be worked out.

    Firstly, crash resistance. How does the combined vehicle behave in a crash? I for one would not like the auxiliary battery pack to try and join me in the driving seat in the event of a collision.

    Secondly, security. How easy would it be to remove the added section (say, if you were a thief) and what sort of effect do the attachment mechanisms have of the integrity of the vehicle.

    Finally, what do you do with the add-ons when you're not using them? Ideally, I'd want a thunderbird 2-style garage system, where the various extensions are stored on a carousel and can be automatically attached (with appropriate music, naturally)

    ReplyDelete
  2. eonTuesday, 21 February 2012 at 05:13:00 GMT-8

    The result looks a lot like the Chrysler PT Cruiser. Just minus the load space, etc., that made the PT a reasonable urban utility vehicle.

    Of course, the choice was either this or a really long extension cord.

    cheers

    eon

    ReplyDelete

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