Toyota FT EViii
This is a preview of the next Toyota iQ's EV powertrain, with a short-range battery-powered drivetrain. Toyota's suggesting a range of about 65 miles and (in this concept anyway) room for four passengers. There are also rumors swirling that this model could be sold in the U.S. under Toyota's Scion line.
Daihatsu D-X Roadster
Daihatsu might be off the radar in the U.S., but it is owned by Toyota, so its concept car may in fact fuel ideas we'll see stateside someday. The D-X (D "cross") features a turbocharged two-cylinder directly injected gas engine and a superlight curb weight thanks to a plastic body.
Daihatsu Pico
City vehicle concepts can be pretty irresistible because they give automakers a space to play. For instance, Daihatsu's Pico EV fiddles with the notion of something halfway between an electric motorcycle and a car—think of a Miata that was left in the dryer until it came out like a vintage MG.
Its low, flat floor makes climbing aboard sort of like stepping onto a trolley car. Since passengers sit in single file, like on a tandem bicycle, the Pico would be narrow enough to park two in the space of a single ordinary car. One rather amazing feature is a pedestrian sensing system that totally overrides controls, preventing the driver from striking someone in the vehicle's path.
Its low, flat floor makes climbing aboard sort of like stepping onto a trolley car. Since passengers sit in single file, like on a tandem bicycle, the Pico would be narrow enough to park two in the space of a single ordinary car. One rather amazing feature is a pedestrian sensing system that totally overrides controls, preventing the driver from striking someone in the vehicle's path.
Daihatsu FC ShoCase
There's one little-discussed flaw in the whole "save the planet with hybrids and EVs" idea: mining. The rare earth metals used in so many of these cars' batteries are rare, expensive, and dirty to mine. Daihatsu's boxy FC ShoCase is also rare, because its liquid fuel cell uses no such materials, though nobody at Daihatsu was available to explain how viable such a powertrain really is.
Kobot Beta
No, this isn't a car. It's more like a shopping cart and Segway merged into one. The Kobots "nest" so that they can be parked in tight quarters (that's the shopping cart idea) and Kobot says they could be rentable EVs, providing easy, logical transportation that has a much lower learning curve than a motorcycle, and is far more stable, too.
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