The Toyota i-Road Concept has been revealed ahead of the Geneva Motor Show. It’s a three-wheeled EV designed as an urban transport solution.
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But if there is a way to make EVs acceptable to car buyers it’s to offer an alternative to the normal ICE car that works in specific and appropriate locations better than a full-sized ICE car can, not to try and make a normal car run on electricity.
So the new Toyota i-Road concept – heading for a debut this week at the Geneva Motor Show – is probably a sensible route for Toyota to go with its EV ambitions as it offers an urban transport solution that doesn’t pretend to be a car. In fact, the i-Road seems to be a motorised bike with a chunk of the benefits of a car.
The three-wheeled i-Road – one wheel at the back, two at the front – has room for two in tandem style, is powered by two 2kW motors on the front wheels, has a maximum speed of 28mph and can manage 30 miles on a three hour charge from a domestic socket.
The i-Road measures 2350mm long and just 850mm wide making it easy to thread through urban traffic and comes with ‘Active Lean’ which automatically balances the i-Road when cornering.
Although the i-Road has the manoeuvrability of a two-wheel bike, its three wheels means you won’t need your feet to prop it up when you’re stopped at the lights, so the cabin is enclosed and even gets car-like comforts such as lighting, heating, sound system and Bluetooth.
The Toyota i-Road EV will debut this week at Geneva.
Thor says
This reminds me of one of the coolest concepts from the Frankfurt iaa 2011 – the three wheeled EV Opel RAK. I’ve been waiting for something (from Opel) to resurface from that concept, but it’s been oddly quiet, concidering the amount of interest it generated at the show.
Now, it seemes, Toyota has beat them to it. Great idea, hope it goes on sale at a sensible price. It’ll sell in bucketloads!
Dteamer says
I could live with this in London but I doubt it will come at a price that makes any sense.