It is often said that the world is small. Though without the invention of vehicles for transportation we wouldn’t have been able to say so. Cars have become a necessity for us and therefore we see new innovations being made in relation to cars almost every day.
As we know it
The concept of electrically powered cars is not uncommon or unknown nowadays. A number of such electric vehicles have already been introduced to us. These electric vehicles have achieved success and the users are pretty happy with the performance and functioning of such cars. Now car manufacturers are trying to develop electric cars further to make them more appealing and well-suited for current times. The biggest change that you can soon see in electric cars is their ability to change shape.
Need for change
No invention can be stagnated at one particular point of development. An effort of making products better than before has always been the motto of manufacturers. The need for change and development also arises due to the continuous changes in lifestyles and living conditions of people. The same rule can be applied to the concept of electric cars. Now that the idea of electrically powered vehicles have been well accepted by people, shape changing electric cars have been created. With the rising population and growing number of car users, traffic jams have become one of the biggest conveyance troubles for people. Also, there’s always a space crunch in the parking lots and often a car owner has to face quite a trouble to park his car. Therefore, the need for developing vehicles that can adjust their shape or size to fit in as per requirement has become prominent. To address these problems shape changing electric vehicles have been invented.
What’s Next?
1. Shape shifting electric vehicle of the future
What’s new?
Cell, by designer Tom Kent, is a little 2 seater car that runs on 3 wheels. The car allows the only passenger to seat exactly behind the driver. This little wonder has a lot of advanced features in it. There are cameras placed on the outside of the car that provide views of the road to the driver in the LCD monitor placed inside the car. The car can adjust its shape and become leaner by the press of one single button. On pushing the button, the two front tyres or wheels come closer to each other thus decreasing the width of the car.
What difference will it make?
This car can be a real savior for people who have to travel in traffic jam hit or congested routes. The car is already a lean model and the ability to make itself leaner simply adds to it. This will allow the car to easily move through narrow lanes, congested places or traffic jams. The car would also address emission problems by lowering emissions to a great extent.
Problems
Yes, this car too has some drawbacks and is not 100% perfect. First, the feature that allows the car to adjust its shape will supposedly eat up a lot of the energy of the car. Then, there are not many charging stations for charging up this car as this car needs special charging stations and not the ones that are generally used to charge up other electric cars. So that puts on a limitation as to the range or place that you can travel in this vehicle. Add to that, you can not own a specific car but get a share in the system that allows you to pick up or drop off the vehicle as and when needed.
2. Shape-shifting electric vehicle is controlled by a wireless controller
What’s new?
David Vega, an industrial designer, has developed this concept and named it “Plus”. This is a size changing vehicle concept. This car allows the number of seats to be increased or decreased, as per requirement. The car is an open unit with a rolled surface and hence allows the user to add other systems that are not present in the vehicle. This car is also different because it is controlled by a wireless controller.
What difference will it make?
This vehicle will help to address the pollution of the environment and decrease the same as there is nil emission from this unit. The seating capacity adjustment capability would help to sort out traffic issues as well as any problem arising out of requirement of extra seats.
Problems
The vehicle is an open unit which may not be pretty comfortable in urban streets amid the conventional cars. Also, there are no such features in the car that can make the passengers comfortable for a long drive.
3. Peugeot Globule shape-shifting electric car truly adapts to its surroundings
What’s new?
Designer Ahmad Moslemi Far has come up with this innovative electric car design that is a notch above the others. This vehicle, named Peugeot Globule, has seating arrangements for four occupants. Each seat is a separate part with an individual electric motor attached to it for power. These 4 parts of the vehicle are linked to a centralized battery system. An extremely flexible polymer covering is used to make this vehicle which holds the 4 separate units together while allowing them to form different arrangements. The 4 units can form a line by joining themselves next to each other or behind one another (like a train) or can even align themselves on top of each other. One can add more parts to this car to increase the occupancy number.
What difference will it make?
It will make traveling or commuting through busy roads or narrow places easy along with contributing to a green world with no emissions. The parking space crunch can also be sorted out as this car needs only 130cm x 130cm space for parking when the chambers are atop each other.
Problems
The speed may get hampered when the arrangements are changed, specially when the chambers are on top of one another.
