April 2023, RULES OF ENGAGEMENT – Little City Car.

Environment

·        Short term hire on UK urban streets (journey times from 5 minutes to 2 hours expected).

·        Parked in dedicated bays or mini depots (new use for retail premises?)

·        Car Club use? (ZipCar, WizzGo, etc.)

·        Similar usage further afield – EU, North America, Australasia, etc.

Users

·        Young, savvy, city dwellers / workers with low to moderate disposable income (18 upwards?) using card / phone payment (same as hire scooters, “Boris Bikes”, etc.)

·        Users are aesthetically literate in terms of contemporary design. They are concerned about environmental issues – even if not entirely consistent in their ecological behaviour or deeply committed to the cause.

·        The user pool can be widened to include anyone who needs to get “near-door-to-door” across a city at short notice in a moderately weatherproof mode of transport.

·        Hire company drivers will collect the car from the roadside (if necessary) clean and return to use. There is potential for online ordering for a fully door-to-door service.

Significant attributes.

1.      Users’ immediate reaction to the car must be “I want to drive this vehicle – it looks great fun.”

2.      The design, though simple and shorn of all unnecessary details, must be sophisticated and not leave the driver or passenger feeling they are driving an inadequate or poorly developed vehicle. That said, it must be resolutely simple and inexpensive to build – given the limited development budget. Anything that can be removed from the specification, while still leaving it suited to its main purpose, should be deleted.

3.      The interior should be capable of being hosed down. Any seat adjustment, steering wheel reach and rake adjustment, fitment of accessories and so on (if included in the design specification) should be very simple to engineer and operate.

4.      The batteries will be removeable so that they can be replaced quickly and easily by rental company service engineers. Removeable batteries must be small and light enough for an average adult to handle with ease.

5.      The car must conform at least to UK IVA for low volume type approval for light quadracycles. It will be safe, of course – but must also appear overtly safe (over and above the minimum required for type approval).

6.      The car must be robustly designed for a long arduous life in a city environment, including refurbishment, subsequent closed loop recycling and remanufacture.

7.      Ownership and lifetime responsibility for roadworthiness and all effects of the car on its surroundings will remain with the company.

©Jonathan Holt, April 2023.