From the archive
WalkCar: the World’s Smallest Electric Vehicle That Fits in Your Bag
Move over Segway. Step aside Honda’s Uni-Cub. A Japanese engineer has invented a better way to travel. The WalkCar, developed by 26-year old Kuniaki Sato looks like a laptop. Except when you put it on the ground, step on it and lean forward, it takes you on a magic carpet ride.
Despite being so small–it weighs between 4.4 – 6.6 pounds depending on whether it’s an indoor or outdoor version–the WalkCar packs a lot of power. It can travel at up to 10 km/hr for distances of up to 12 km after each charge, which takes about 3 hours. Sure that’s more charging time than travel time but it’s enough for a senior citizen to get to the train station, pack up their “car” into their bag and get on a train.
Saito and his firm Cocoa Motors plan to launch the WalkCar on Kickstarter this coming October, 2015. Project backers will be able to order the WalkCar for 100,000 yen (about $800).
Discussion
This has already been posed on a.t, here http://akihabara.tokyo/posts/RcqHKEENPkL7t5iRQ/tiny-electric-transporter-small-enough-to-fit-in-a-backpack but it's always good to see it again.