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So… South Korea just made an electric car that folds in half
The engineers over at the Graduate School for Green Transportation at KAIST, in South Korea, have just come out with a foldable electric car. The car, titled the Armadillo-T, is a two-seater that folds up after the driver and passenger leave the vehicle, which makes it a good space saver on Asia’s crowded city streets.
Some folks online have pointed out that it doesn’t make sense to fold the car after parking it (especially if parallel parked), but the vehicle is so tiny that you could just drive it straight into the curb with the front directly facing the sidewalk, and the car would still fit. At full length, it’s just 110 inches (2.8 meters). When folded, it’s only 65 inches (1.6 meters) long. In Southeast Asian countries, where most of the vehicles are either easily movable or motorbikes that can just be shuffled around, this makes even more sense.
Although the car itself looks like an armadillo mated with a golf cart, the innovation doesn’t end there. The battery charges in 10 minutes and lasts for 62 miles with a top speed of 37 miles per hour. In other words, folks like Terra Motors, which produces an electric motorbike that goes for 40 miles on a single battery, will get a run for their money.
Of course, given that this car is still under research at a university, it will be a while before it hits the market. It’s still awesome to dream.The engineers over at the Graduate School for Green Transportation at KAIST, in South Korea, have just come out with a foldable electric car. The car, titled the Armadillo-T, is a two-seater that folds up after the driver and passenger leave the vehicle, which makes it a good space saver on Asia’s crowded city streets.
Some folks online have pointed out that it doesn’t make sense to fold the car after parking it (especially if parallel parked), but the vehicle is so tiny that you could just drive it straight into the curb with the front directly facing the sidewalk, and the car would still fit. At full length, it’s just 110 inches (2.8 meters). When folded, it’s only 65 inches (1.6 meters) long. In Southeast Asian countries, where most of the vehicles are either easily movable or motorbikes that can just be shuffled around, this makes even more sense.
Although the car itself looks like an armadillo mated with a golf cart, the innovation doesn’t end there. The battery charges in 10 minutes and lasts for 62 miles with a top speed of 37 miles per hour. In other words, folks like Terra Motors, which produces an electric motorbike that goes for 40 miles on a single battery, will get a run for their money.
Of course, given that this car is still under research at a university, it will be a while before it hits the market. It’s still awesome to dream.
This article by Anh-Minh Do originally appeared on Tech in Asia, a Burn Media publishing partner.
