General Motors (GM) together with its Chinese partner, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), presented the face of the automobile 20 years from now at the ongoing World Expo in Shanghai, China.
With the theme “Drive to 2030,” GM and SAIC are presenting their vision for urban transportation in the future wherein driving will be free from emission, accident, petroleum and congestion. It is a future in which driving will also be more enjoyable and more fashionable than ever before.
With the looming fuel crisis the world is facing, GM has come out with a possible solution to the problem with the EN-V concept car, which is an electric networked-vehicle.
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The EN-V (pronounced ‘envy’) concept car is the main attraction at the GM-SAIC pavilion at the Shanghai Expo, which is on display until Oct. 31, 2010.
EN-V, or the Electric Networked-Vehicle, is a two-seater designed to answer concerns on traffic congestion, parking availability, and air quality in tomorrow’s cities. The EN-V is the giant automaker’s vision of mobility by the year 2030 — wherein each car will no longer run on fossil based fuels but instead, run solely on electrical power.
Three EN-V models were unveiled during the opening of the SAIC-GM Pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai. The three variants, Jiao (Pride), Miao (Magic) and Xiao (Laugh), represent three different characteristics that emphasize the enjoyable nature of future transportation.
The egg-shaped car sits two people and runs on two wheels – similar to the popular personal transport device, the Segway. GM and SAIC partnered with Segway for the development of the chassis and electric drivetrain that takes ‘dynamic stabilization’ to a new level. Segway linked the chassis – that contained the electronics, sensors, motors and wheels to a rectangular section of the car that houses the batteries using an articulated slide mechanism. The section contains the equivalent of eight standard Segway batteries giving power to the unit for a longer time.
The Jiao, Miao and Xiao were designed by three GM design studios. The different bodies are mounted on the chassis through the battery section that serves as the mount point.
