Micro-mobility: car manufacturers are working on concepts for small vehicles

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The Swedish start-up Uniti has developed the mini electric car One

At least twice a day in metropolitan areas it is possible to see how traffic is heading towards the heart attack. If you drive into an older parking garage with a current model, you will also notice: Cars have become much too big. "If the cities intervene to restrict private car traffic, this can happen, among other things, through the size of the vehicles," says Markus Willand, mobility expert at the consulting firm MHP.

This is alarming news for automakers. You are on an odyssey with your fat SUV: If you want to continue to offer attractive vehicles for customers in metropolises in the future, you should think smaller. Much smaller. This is exactly what is already happening.

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No space there: Mercedes SUV next to Fiat 500

In fact, the industry has long been brooding over small vehicles. "According to our findings, almost all established automobile manufacturers are working on micro-vehicle concepts. In addition, large suppliers and mobility start-ups are also working on mobiles specifically for traffic in metropolitan areas," says mobility expert Willand.

Better to have smaller cars than none at all

A wide variety of vehicles are currently being built for the cities of the future: from the classic small car like the Smart, which came onto the market 23 years ago, to the electrically assisted cargo bike, which should make short-distance delivery traffic emission-free and uncomplicated. Without exception, it is about electrically powered vehicles.

And even if the corona pandemic messed up some schedules and ambitious projects can only be realized much later - the fundamental trend towards the smallest mobile remains.

The Japanese car manufacturer Toyota, for example, has already brought an electrically powered, 2.49 meter long two-seater to series production. The vehicle was "specially developed for the daily mobility needs of customers who regularly cover short distances," says Toyota Development Manager Akihiro Yanaka. A range of 100 kilometers and a top speed of 60 km / h are sufficient for this.

"Of course, such a small car is not a dream car, but a useful object"

Mobility expert Markus Willand

The 3.22-meter-long electric three-seater Uniti One, which was developed in Sweden and has already been pre-ordered (base price 17,767 euros), is similarly positioned. Or the 3.34 meter long four-seater E-Go Life produced in Aachen (base price 22,702 euros, after deduction of the environmental bonus 13,221 euros), which is also purely electric. Fiat, on the other hand, has been a leader in the design of conventional small cars for decades, is working on bringing the Concept Centoventi electric study (length 3.68 meters) presented just under a year ago to series production. However, this will not be the case until 2021 at the earliest. And the French technology and management consultancy Altran is also developing an innovative mobility concept with the electric narrow-gauge mobile Iris, including digital networking and sharing software.

Whether this type of vehicle will prevail depends largely on the specific regulatory measures that cities will use to curb road traffic. Are there, for example, certain zones into which only electrically powered vehicles up to this or that length are allowed to enter? It would certainly increase the acceptance and attractiveness of micro vehicles if their occupants were given special access rights. MHP consultant Willand says: "Of course, such a small car is not a dream car, but a useful object that at least enables individual mobility. For the manufacturers, the business model with these vehicles only becomes exciting when it comes to really large quantities."

Small vehicles are still niche products

Will there really be large numbers? The French manufacturer Renault has been offering the Twizy small electric vehicle since spring 2012. Almost 30,000 copies of the narrow-gauge mobile, with two seats arranged one behind the other, have been sold since then, around 5600 of them in Germany. So far, the demand for such rudimentary automobiles has been manageable. Just because it makes the search for a parking space easier, the emission of pollutants is lower and both the purchase price and resource consumption are many times lower, it seems that hardly anyone changes from a standard car to a miniature vehicle.

This may change. The discussion about climate protection, traffic-calmed zones, car-free inner cities and generally more intelligent mobility solutions persist. Solutions for the growing flood of parcels from online retail are also sought. Alternative delivery vehicles for the city are in demand. The automotive supplier Schaeffler, for example, has developed the four-wheeled Bio-Hybrid pedelec - both in a two-seater commuter and a single-seater cargo variant. The last practical tests are currently underway with the half-faired vehicles, which can reach speeds of up to 25 km / h, and series production is targeted for the coming months.

The "last mile" by cargo bike

The Berlin company Citkar has also developed a pedelec with a loading area or optionally a loading box. The Loadster model offers a payload of up to 250 kilograms including the driver, energy supply for the e-machine via a removable battery and electrical assistance up to a speed of 25 km / h. Sales began a few weeks ago. VW is also working on a cargo bike. The Cargo E-Bike was subjected to an extensive practical test in Hanover in the spring, after which the series production should begin. "Central components of the cargo bike such as the frame, steering or suspension are in-house developments and are also produced by us," emphasized a VW spokesman.

Whether pedelecs, narrow-gauge vehicles or small electric cars - if traffic is to flow in increasingly dense cities in the future, such vehicles will probably play a central role. Incidentally, also for the companies that build and operate them. MHP expert Willand says: "If you look ten or twenty years into the future and imagine that many such electrically powered micro vehicles are no longer private cars, but are autonomous and in large fleets in urban traffic areas, then you understand how these concepts could develop an economically interesting dynamic. "