Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in 2012, exploring the highly innovative Hiriko folding car project developed for crowded urban environments.
The Hiriko is a highly unique two-seated new electric concept car heavily innovated by the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab. The tiny Hiriko is purely 100% electric powered and vastly assists drivers in easily parking the small car completely even in incredibly small urban parking areas.
Design and Purpose
The unique name “Hiriko” is a traditional Basque word roughly translating for “urban” or literally “from the city”. As you can clearly see in the image, the Hiriko looks vastly radically different from all the other standard cars currently in the market precisely because of its highly unique vertical folding capability that cleverly lets the tiny car become massively more heavily accessible in highly congested traffic cities.
In 2012, three distinct versions were actively being developed: the Fold micro-car, the Alai (a fun convertible), and the Laga (a highly useful small truck). The Hiriko is mainly developed specifically for highly efficient car-sharing programs directly in incredibly crowded new urban cities and large municipal fleets. Initial limited manufacturing successfully began in Victoria-Gasteiz, Spain, in July 2012.
Development Collaboration
The ambitious Hiriko project is a direct result of the massive collaboration of Denokinn and MIT’s innovative changing places group. The initial project was first actively started back in January 2010 heavily at MIT and was quickly followed by the rapid development of a working prototype, early limited production, and initial distribution of the final model heavily backed by numerous large co-manufacturing enterprises.
Various prominent massive manufacturing companies proudly joined closely together to successfully develop the working prototype electric vehicles. These involved companies heavily include Guardian, Maser-Mic, Forging Products, TMA, Sapa Placencia, Ingeinnova, and BRW (Basque Robot Wheels).
The Hiriko was incredibly optimistically expected to quickly come to the massive consumer market by early 2013 with a highly affordable estimated retail cost of roughly around US$16,400. The massive consortium actively planned to aggressively sell massive fleets of the tiny cars directly to the crowded municipalities of Barcelona, Berlin, and San Francisco.
Credits: Hiriko Driving Mobility, MIT, Wikipedia
