Laptop sized personal transporter - 7.6 Lbs - Up to 7.4 miles @ 6 mph on 3 hour charge
Reuters 1 hour ago
A Japanese engineer has developed a portable
transporter small enough to be carried in a backpack that he says is the
world's first 'car in a bag'.
Twenty-six-year-old Kuniako Saito and his team at
Cocoa Motors recently unveiled the lithium battery-powered "WalkCar"
transporter, which is the size of a laptop and resembles a skateboard more than
a car.
The slender WalkCar is made from aluminum and weighs
between two and three kilograms (4.4 to 6.6 pounds), depending on whether it is
an indoor or outdoor version.
Saito expects to see many other uses for his
transporter, as he says it has enough power to help people push wheelchairs
with ease. The lightweight aluminum board is stronger than it looks, and can
take loads of up to 120kg (265 pounds).
It reaches top speeds of 10 kilometers per hour (6.2
miles per hour), for distances of up to 12 kilometers (7.4 miles) after three
hours of charging.
Its developer says it's also extremely simple to ride.
Once the rider stands on it the WalkCar starts automatically, while simply
stepping off stops the vehicle. To change direction, the user just shifts their
weight.
Best of all, there is no need to find a parking space,
because it fits into a small bag when not in use.
Saito said his studies in electric car motor control
systems sparked the idea for the new kind of ride.
"I thought, "what if we could just carry our
transportation in our bags, wouldn't that mean we'd always have our
transportation with us to ride on?" and my friend asked me to make one,
since I was doing my masters in engineering specifically on electric car motor
control systems," he told Reuters.
Saito says he is confident that WalkCar goes beyond
bulkier devices such as the Segway or Toyota's Winglet.
"Maybe I just see it that way, but it seems to me
that the U.S. is always the one which invents new products and Japan is the one
which takes those products and improves on them to make a better version of it.
But here in this case, the WalkCar is a totally new product I have started from
scratch. So I also I want to show the world that Japan can also be
innovative," he said.
Saito says customers will be able to reserve their own
WalkCars from autumn 2015 on the crowd-funding website Kickstarter. The futuristic
skateboard will have a price-tag of around 100,000 Japanese Yen (approx. $800
USD). Shipping is expected to begin by spring 2016.
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