Electric cars offer new design possibilities – at least in theory. Most models, whether Tesla, BMW, Mercedes-Benz or MG, still look very similar to their combustion engine ancestors. If the US start-up Inventist, behind hoverboard inventor Shane Chen, has its way, this should change drastically. The concept for his car of the same name – Shane – calls for it to only be driven on two huge 60-inch wheels. This would have huge advantages in a small space.
The Shane is intended for up to five people. Entry is via the capsule’s huge front flap, which is surrounded by two very large wheels. The car appears to be missing a classic cockpit. In the video, the company shows a center console next to the driver’s seat for controls.
According to the idea, the passenger capsule should hardly move during the journey. When the electric car accelerates, the wheels move backwards. If Shane brakes, the wheels slide forward. This creates a kind of dampening of the acting forces.
The side wheel modules are also vertically movable so that they can completely absorb bumps.
You should also hardly feel curves – because the car is not supposed to drive through them through classic steering, but rather through different speeds of the wheels. The concept is well known from the inventor’s hoverboards – only the weight shift is missing. “Away with the complicated front wheel steering,” the company writes in the press release. It’s questionable as to who actually found the steering wheel too “complicated” in practice.
But the individual control of the wheels has another huge advantage: the electric car is able to turn while stationary. This eliminates the hassle of cranking in tight parking spaces. Shane can turn 90 degrees in front of a pitch, drive into the middle of the area and then align. By opening the capsule upwards, it would be possible to get out even if there is only a few centimeters of space left between the cars.
According to “Carscoops”, Shane Chen is still looking for partner companies that want to build the strange vehicle with him. The start-up doesn’t seem to be able to manage production itself.
So-called self-balancing vehicles are not a completely new concept – even if no model has yet made it to market maturity. As early as 1903, an Irish-Australian engineer developed a gyroscopically stabilized monorail. Ten years later, Russian Count Pyotr Petrovich Zhilovsky introduced a car with a gyroscope for the first time.
Those: Inventist, Carscoops
