There are EV's and then there is-Toyota's squashed tin cans.

[G7PSK]

Spotted this and had to share, a new EV from Toyota. looks like it got cought between a truck and a tram, I for one would not feel safe in such a contraption unless it had special roads to itself without any heavy traffic on them.

http://www.toyota-global.com/innovation/smart_mobility_society/news_and_events/grenoble/?aid=ag085.from.gp2_fb_uk_car_02&padid=ag085.from.gp2_fb_uk_car_02

[German_EE]

Horrible. Although they are not electric vehicles I have the same argument against the Smart, have a head on accident and you will find the engine on your lap.

Crumple zones are good.

[firewalker]

I believe the engine on a Smart is behind and slightly under the passengers.

Alexander.

[tszaboo]

I dont understand why almost all EV and hybrid has to look like it was drawn by a five year old when someone asks them to draw the "car of the future". Please. Give me a vw golf with electric engine

[EEVblog]

It's safer than a motorbike.

[dexters_lab]

saw those at MegaWeb Tokyo a few months ago, we couldn't try them as you had to be able to be a japanese speaker to try them!

looked quite funky

[nowlan]

Smart Cars are incredible safe. Go watch Crash test on youtube.

The toyota FV2 looks crazy.

-

[coppice]

It's safer than a motorbike.

That can be said of most consumer products, including most knives.

[nctnico]

Citroen came up with a bumper car: the Citroen Cactus. The side of the doors is also a bumper so you don't get the typical parking dents.

The Toyota vehicle looks much like the Renault Twizzy and a motor cycle with 2 parallel front wheels (you see these a lot in France). The idea is not bad IMHO.

[tom66]

I dont understand why almost all EV and hybrid has to look like it was drawn by a five year old when someone asks them to draw the "car of the future". Please. Give me a vw golf with electric engine

You mean the VW e-Golf?
http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/new/e-golf-vii/home

Or if it's too big for you, the VW e-Up!? (that just looks weird)
http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/new/e-up-nf/home

[eneuro]

The toyota FV2 looks crazy.

Not so much-they had to add those hopeless wheels side by side, while in my design I do not need them to stabilize vehicle 

Most of those "smart cars" looks like to show they have it, but they are only to attract to buy classic car with all this garbage inside to earn a few times later on repairs and services 

[tom66]

These are concept vehicles
AKA "Look how green we are! Isn't it great! Soon you'll see one of these on every street corner! We're really forward thinking. In the meantime how about buying X as a stop gap? We promise it'll be available soon!"

See also: Toyota FCV, a vehicle which costs over $250,000 to make and is sold at a massive loss ($69,000) to show Toyota is moving "forward" on hydrogen powered cars.

[zapta]

Let the tipping begin

[free_electron]

 

when are car makers going to realize that the public is not interested in these whacky designs. stuff like that simply doesn't sell !
make it look and feel like a car as we know it. all those outrageous designs are doomed to flunk. we've had our share of butt-ugly things. Look at the Aztec ( that thing form breaking bad ) . the honda insight original edition. the half arsed prius original edition.

The Leaf and the Volt are the first 'normal looking' out there and they are both selling well. people like the shape .

Car makers : please stop dumping oodles of money in these mongrels. You are already deep in a shithole living on borrowed money from the government. No need to burn it on these contraptions. Go design better battery packs , Go design better drive units. Go learn how to build and design your own electronics as opposed to slapping bits and pieces from 25 different oem's together. None of which work right to begin with.  Ditch the whole automobile standards induced crap like the J1772 connectors and Chademo disasters. They are flawed and outdated. not fit for purpose. It's almost 2015, time to wake up. Forget the extra cupholders, you got bigger problems than that.

[SeanB]

Look at the 3 vehicles with the longest production runs, and with the highest units sold worldwide. Ford model T was first, then the next 2 are the original VW Beetle ( which was still made until this century, not bad for a car designed before WWII in Germany) and the VW Golf/Rabbit ( depending on market) which still has a large number of spare parts available both OEM and aftermarket. Standard joke here is the only part you cannot buy new is the VIN plate, though you can buy a scrapped one.

Noone will say they are perfect vehicles, but they are both simple, easy to run and more importantly value for money. Where else can you get a vehicle that is cheap, reliable and yet which can hold 11 people ( I have seen it) in a 5 seater, along with fishing rods and such.

[eneuro]

make it look and feel like a car as we know it.

Cars which we know are designed to get another profits for their repairs or buy another one after calculated period of time - end of waranty 
 

[zapta]

Car makers : please stop dumping oodles of money in these mongrels. You are already deep in a shithole living on borrowed money from the government. No need to burn it on these contraptions. Go design better battery packs , Go design better drive units. Go learn how to build and design your own electronics as opposed to slapping bits and pieces from 25 different oem's together. None of which work right to begin with.  Ditch the whole automobile standards induced crap like the J1772 connectors and Chademo disasters. They are flawed and outdated. not fit for purpose. It's almost 2015, time to wake up. Forget the extra cupholders, you got bigger problems than that.

Any financial interest in car manufacturing that is worth disclosing?

[vvanders]

when are car makers going to realize that the public is not interested in these whacky designs. stuff like that simply doesn't sell !
make it look and feel like a car as we know it. all those outrageous designs are doomed to flunk. we've had our share of butt-ugly things. Look at the Aztec ( that thing form breaking bad ) . the honda insight original edition. the half arsed prius original edition.

The Leaf and the Volt are the first 'normal looking' out there and they are both selling well. people like the shape .

Car makers : please stop dumping oodles of money in these mongrels. You are already deep in a shithole living on borrowed money from the government. No need to burn it on these contraptions. Go design better battery packs , Go design better drive units. Go learn how to build and design your own electronics as opposed to slapping bits and pieces from 25 different oem's together. None of which work right to begin with.  Ditch the whole automobile standards induced crap like the J1772 connectors and Chademo disasters. They are flawed and outdated. not fit for purpose. It's almost 2015, time to wake up. Forget the extra cupholders, you got bigger problems than that.

Tesla is hitting on almost all of those marks, just need to get the Model 3 out the door.

[tom66]

Concept. Yeah...
A concept should roughly represent the general idea of a vehicle. Example - BMW i8 concept (BMW EfficientDynamics) vs actual BMW i8



Not a major difference: they obviously changed the glass side door, because that wouldn't be any good in a side impact. Overall the vehicle shape is generally the same and the specifications are similar (PHEV, small engine, ~300HP, good performance)

None of those "concepts" are anything more than a designer's day-dream fantasy. They simply don't work in the real world, and you won't ever seen anything resembling them reaching mass production.