KEY POINTS:
New Zealand designers are developing a new generation of smart electric micro-vehicles to beat the traffic congestion which is clogging many of the world's cities.
Since early last year, staff at the University of Otago design studies department and the Otago Polytechnic design department have been working together to develop an intelligent, more sustainable alternative to the car.
The team, led by co-ordinators Professor Thomas Bley, head of the university department, and Chris Ebbert, a senior product design lecturer at the polytechnic, have generated dozens of potential designs, aiming to produce a three-wheel vehicle which is as pleasant to operate as a motorcycle but as stable as a car, and no more than 72.5cm wide.
The project has been named oMoCo, for "Otago Motor Company", and has been gathering momentum
A prototype vehicle is expected to be ready for testing by July, organisers say.
Other design team members include Andrew Wallace, Bill Ingram and a visiting lecturer in design from Zurich, Switzerland, Herbert Pause.
Professor Bley says organisers are keen to attract commercial partners, with a view to establishing a potentially lucrative manufacturing centre for the vehicle in Dunedin.
The team initially aims to create a more sustainable alternative to the "motorised rickshaw" type of taxi seen in many over-congested Asian cities, including Bangkok and New Delhi, as well as in South American countries such as Argentina.
Such a smart vehicle would also be well suited to operating efficiently as a rapid-response ambulance, and as a delivery vehicle, including for courier mail items, organisers said.
Solar power, accessed through solar panels, could be used to top up the battery power supply during the vehicle's driving day, Mr Ebbert said.
The new vehicle would be faster, would use space more efficiently and avoid the air and noise pollution associated with burning fossil fuels.
Mr Wallace said in some of the worst affected cities, traffic congestion meant car speeds ranged only from 6km/h to 8km/h.
"You're just sitting in your car and not getting anywhere," Professor Bley said.
Organisers said trials in Dunedin showed that conservatively ridden motorcycles were reaching their destination 30 per cent faster than the car over a 4.5km route.
It was hoped to build one of the innovative vehicles by next year and send it on a world tour which would reach the Copenhagen Climate Conference, being held at the end of next year, organisers said.
- OTAGO DAILY TIMES
