BARCELONA – Volkswagen Group has asked its Spanish brand Seat to lead the group's efforts to attract city residents whose journeys are typically below 10 km (6 miles). Seat has a bold target.
"We hope to be able to offer door-to-door individual urban mobility for the price of a bus ticket,” Seat CEO Luca de Meo said at the unveiling of the Minimo concept here on Monday.
Seat believes the Minimo could be used as part of short-term rental fleets or bought for individual use.
The key to making the Minimo's cost-per-ride so cheap will be the ability to reduce operational costs for the model’s short-term rental usage to below half the price of an electric city car, De Meo said.
For short-term rental vehicles, the costs of maintenance and regular cleaning are high, so it would be crucial to reduce these, de Meo said.
The Minimo is a two-seat electric quadricycle concept that combines the advantages of cars and motorcycles to create a nimble electric city vehicle.
“The Minimo occupies a total surface area of 3.1 square meters, half that of a normal car and could be parked in areas designated for motorcycles,” De Meo said.
The Minimo's range is not seen as a big issue. Seat said on average urban trips are shorter than 6 km and the Minimo has a range of over 100 km.
When the vehicle's battery pack is registering a low charge, the Minimo could use its Level 4 autonomous driving capability to travel to a station where the pack could be quickly swapped for a new one with fully charged batteries, Seat said.
Seat is currently evaluating how and where it could produce the Minimo.
