A vehicle that stands

A vehicle that stands
31 Jul 2008, 0010 hrs IST,AGENCIES


LONDON: A British designer has come up with a sports car that can be folded in half to park it in tight spaces.
Daniel Bailey, 22, has revealed that the BRB Evolution jacks up on its nose with its back wheels sliding underneath on two rollers, and thus uses 50% less parking space.

Bailey says that motorists will have to step out of the car before it morphs into its “upright” parking pose.

He adds that the car will run on electricity or hydrogen fuel, and will be more “sexy, sleek and mean” than other eco-cars.

According to him, his invention is inspired by the Lamborghini Murcielago and Peugeot 908.

“I figured two of the main problems of future cities would be pollution and over population,” the Telegraph quoted him as saying.

“With more vehicles needing more places to be stored, I came up with the concept of a folding car.
“The car folds up to 50% of its original size, and uses the negative vertical space, usually disregarded. This potentially doubles the amount of parking spaces,” he added.

Bailey has revealed that he has submitted his concept to Peugeot as part of a design competition.

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are also planning to knock up a full-scale model of their “City Car” — an experimental vehicle which “folds” itself in half and snuggles up to other City Cars in the manner of supermarket trollies.

The MIT team, led by architecture professor Bill Mitchell, reckons its revolutionary wheels would solve urban transportation problems at a stroke, with pollution-free electric drive and the ability to park in one-eighth of the space of a conventional car.