Folding vehicles, so what is new?

SIX decades ago, if the 1951 Cadillac got boxed in by inconsiderate parkers, all the Caddy owner had to do was to pull a knob that slowly cranked down the spare wheel in the boot.(See the December 2011 archives for more on this marvel.)

This turned this behemoth of a car into a admittedly ungainly three-wheeler, but hey, it could and did pirouette around inside its own radius.

Since then, designers have not lost their fascination with the third wheel to solve the biggest problem of driving, which is, of course, parking.

Benjamin Gulack's Uno III tucks its front wheel in.

The latest trend is to fold the vehicle into half its size, as both the European Hiriko prototype and the Uno III trike does.

Can you spot any important
differences in the door of the
post-war Isetta and the 2009 Hiriko?

Both are electric vehicles, but while the Hiriko is still being developed, the Uno is racing around town as fast as its Ontario-based creator, Benjamin Gulak.

The

Uno III has two thin wheels at the rear. At slow speeds, it rides on them much like a Segway does.

Speed up and — with the press of a button — the front wheel untucks itself to slowly move forward as the rear axle extends backwards. Im­agine a car lowering and stretching as it speeds up, and you get the feeling.

Gulack, who created the first Uno as a 17-year-old, says the third version is close to perfect.

With the front wheel tucked in, it is small enough to fit into a lift. In this dicycle mode, Gualjk says it gives a highly manoeuvrable, tight ride at about 25 kilometres per hour.

With the axles stretched out, the Uno handles well enough to reach a top speed up 96 km/h. Charging the scooter takes four hours, which gives it a range of about 50 km.

In Europe, the Hiriko has been a long time coming since it was first announced in 2009.

It is a collaboration with the Basque Centre for Innovation, MIT’s CityCar project and a consortium of Spanish businesses.

The word Hiriko itself derives from the Basque words hiri (town or city) and kotxe (car).

The car was unveiled late in January by president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso.

It forms part of the Smart Cities Group, which “take the particular perspective that cities are systems of systems, and that there are emerging opportunities to introduce digital nervous systems, intelligent responsiveness, and optimisation at every level of system integration”, according to its website.

The architecture of the CityCar is certainly radical. It does not have a central engine and traditional power train, but is powered by four in-wheel electric motors that enables it to turn in its own circle, like the 1951 Caddy.

Each wheel unit contains drive ­motor with regenerative braking, steering and suspension, and is independently digitally controlled. This enables manoeuvres like ­spinning on its own axis, moving sideways into parallel parking spaces, and lane changes while facing straight ahead.

Amazingly, its length can be reduced from 2,5 metres to 1,5 metres — narrower than the average double cab is wide. It is designed so that the crowded ­Japanese can park three Hirikos in a ­single parking bay. The little car gets higher as it gets shorter, which makes getting out of the little car a doddle.

Like BMW’s three-wheel Isetta, the Hiroko’s windshield doubles as the car door, so that the driver and passenger can leave the two-seater by simply stepping down.

The Hiriko claims single-charge range of 120 km.

Electric Car News reports the Hiriko costs some £11 000 in the United Kingdom, where electric cars are expected to make a return next year.