Eco Factor: Zero-emission concept car powered by electricity.
Hailed as General Motors’ most significant concept since the Chevrolet Volt, the company revealed the EN-V concept that has been developed with GM’s Chinese joint venture partner SAIC. Three variants of the car have been designed, dubbed the Xiao, Jiao and Miao. All three variants have been based on the same mechanical platform.
Each variant seats two occupants side by side and has a wheel on both ends of the lateral center line of the car. Each of these wheels is powered by a 3KW electric motor that draws power from a lithium-ion battery pack.
The company states that the EN-V will be able to reach a top speed of 25mph and have a range of 25 miles. These figures might seem too little, but according to GM they will be sufficient to make the car suitable for use in traffic-jammed 21st-century cities.
While the design of the car has been based on Segway mechanicals, the only difference here is that the vehicle gets balanced by a series of gyroscopic sensors. The EN-V is also capable of both “vehicle-to-vehicle” and “vehicle-to-network” communication, and can read, interpret and understand both its location and the road ahead using its GPS system, as well as various transceivers and cameras on its body.
Via: AutoCar