Hyundai Motor Group has developed a new prototype of an electric scooter which will in the future get integrated with Hyundai and Kia vehicles. The scooter appears to be foldable to the point of being carried on hands, like a hand-bag, and the electric scooter has a range of 20 km with the maximum speed of 20 kmph.
The concept for this electric scooter was born at the 2017 Consumer Electronic Show (CES).
This is the vehicle-mounted personal scooter which could be featured in future Hyundai Motor Group vehicles. We want to make our customers’ lives as easy and enjoyable as possible. Our personal electric scooter makes first- and last-mile commuting a joy, while helping to reduce congestion and emissions in city centres. – DongJin Hyun, head of Hyundai Motor Group Robotics Team
The prototype shows the scooter mounted on a dock in the vehicle which is meant to charge the scooter. Both the front and the rear end of the scooter come with lights. For this electric scooter, the driving shifts from the front wheel to the rear wheel, and this change. According to the manufacturers, it calls in better stability while driving due to better weight distribution. To ensure each ride goes smoothly, it comes with a front suspension.
Hyundai and Kia future models scooter weighs 7.7 kilograms only and runs on a 10.4Ah lithium-ion battery. A digital display would indicate battery status and speed, the rear end wheel is lined with LED lights, and there is a LED headlight for a better driving during the night.
The easily foldable electric scooter would come handy in places where the parking spaces are sparse or far away from their destination. Hyundai also believes that the US, Europe, and China are its top 3 markets where the scooter has the potential to grow to 500 billion USD by the end of 2030.
If we are to situate this scenario in the Indian context, Hyundai would have to come up with a different strategy than only of parking as most of the Indians feel comfortable with parking on the streets only.
