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Toyota Brings Electric Personal Transit Concept to New York: the i-unit
23 March 2005
Toyota is bringing its i-unit concept electric personal transit vehicle to the 2005 New York International Auto Show for its North American debut.
The concept vehicle had appeared earlier at the Tokyo Motor show last year.
The components are made with decomposable and recyclable materials to reduce impact on the environment.
The i-unit operates upright in low-speed mode, but reclines to a more horizontal stance (shown at right) when at high speed. The resulting lower center of gravity ensures more stable handling.
| Toyota i-unit Dimensions | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Low-speed | High-speed | ||
| Length (mm / inches) | 1,100 / 43.3 | 1,800 / 70.9 | |
| Height (mm / inches) | 1,800 / 70.9 | 1,250 / 49.2 | |
| Width (mm / inches) | 1,040 / 40.9 | 1,040 / 40.9 | |
| Wheel Base (mm / inches) | 540 / 21.3 | 1,300 / 51.2 | |
The vehicle features drive-by-wire technology, a driver support information system that uses sound, light and vibration, and Toyota’s Intelligent Transport System (ITS) technology that permits efficient autopilot driving in specially equipped lanes.
A personalized recognition system can provide information and music to the driver, while the body color can be personalized according to the driver’s preferences and emotions.
The i-unit uses rear in-wheel motors powered by a Lithium Ion battery.
More details as they come.
March 23, 2005 in Electric (Battery), Personal Transit | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (2)
Comments
Posted by: John Norris | March 23, 2005 at 12:21 PM
The ITS acronym - Insane Transport System.
"Why, with cars running on ITS, we can comfortably ignore impacts, inequities and burdens that motorized travel imposes upon the underclass consumer, the wage-slave and the common slave; and profit handsomely"
Posted by: Art | March 23, 2005 at 02:25 PM
How fast does the i-unit go in both upright and reclined modes?
Posted by: greg | March 20, 2006 at 07:34 PM
wow great car.love it
Posted by: jose | April 07, 2007 at 07:27 PM
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Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Toyota Brings Electric Personal Transit Concept to New York: the i-unit:
» Electric Personal Transport from sustainablog
Green Car Congress informs us that "Toyota is bringing its i-unit concept electric personal transit vehicle to the 2005 New York International Auto Show for its North American debut." [Read More]
Tracked on Mar 23, 2005 2:52:00 PM
» I-Unit in NYC from WorldChanging: Another World Is Here
Almost a year ago, we wrote a bit about Toyota's "Personal Mobility" concept vehicle, which combined a radical body design, battery power, and distributed computing... [Read More]
Tracked on Mar 23, 2005 4:19:43 PM
Mike, FYI there is a 404 error on your previous Toyota link.
-- John