Interesting article this weekend by Holly Reich, appearing in newspapers around the country, about new motor technology that involves electrical motors on each wheel, meaning that no drive train is necessary and the vehicle, scooter or small car, can be made to collapse into very small places — while re-charging.
Design work for these mobility devices is taking place at MIT. [click on Mobility and then on the words that appear.] And there is implementation already.
The “clean, green, silent electric scooter” for urban mobility houses the motors inside each wheel, eliminating the need for a powertrain. Thus, the scooter can be folded in half and wheeled behind one another like a rolling suitcase, or stacked up in a rack.
This is where the shared-use urban mobility concept comes in. The idea is that the scooters can be stored in racks at convenient city locations like subway stops, stores or banks as one-way rentals.
Users could swipe a credit card to remove a scooter from the rack (which charges up the batteries) unfold and take it for a short trip. Once they reach their final destination they could fold it up and rack it. This type of program was implemented in Paris last July with 10,000 bikes. It has been so successful that they are currently doubling the number of bikes and stacks.
I want one!