The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

Peugeot's on-road, off-road ‘leccy ATV

Also suitable for Moon landings

Cloud storage: Lower cost and increase uptime

'Leccy Tech The internet’s awash with wacky conceptual designs for ‘leccy vehicles of one form or another. But Register Hardware’s come across one that would surely steal the hearts and minds of many: the Peugeot Capsule.

Peugeot_Capsule_04

The Peugeot Capsule: an on-road and off-road 'leccy ATV concept

Dreamt up by South African industrial designer Alp Germaner, the Capsule is essentially a multi-purpose, single seat electric vehicle with enough luggage space for an overnight stay – or perhaps a little light shopping.

The electric power train delivers drive to all four wheels which, when combined with what looks like a decent amount of ground clearance and semi-rugged tyres, should enable the Capsule to handle mild off-road activity.

Peugeot_Capsule_02

High ground clearance for driving around...erm...Tesco car parks

Assuming the Capsule could be fitted with a battery pack capable of providing a rough 100 mile range and top speed of 50mph, the car could fill both the roles of stylish urban runaround and ‘leccy ATV quite well.

Peugeot_Capsule_06

Mod cons include satnav, touchscreen displays and LCD rear-facing 'mirrors'

Being a utopian – or dystopian, depending on how you want to look at it – concept, the Capsule comes will all the usual high-tech bells and whistles you’d expect.

These include roof-mounted solar panels, a touchscreen display, satellite connectivity and rear-facing cameras linked to LCD screens in place of old-fashioned mirrors.

Peugeot_Capsule_05

The Capsule has a rear-mounted aluminium backpack

Its slightly insect-like looks met with Register Hardware's approval, as did the single wiper blade than runs up and down the windscreen on runners set into the A-pillars. We also liked the removable aluminium luggage container.

Although no plans to produce the Capsule have been announced, we see no reason why Peugeot couldn't get it onto the roads for somewhere between £10,000 and £12,000 ($17,772/€13,600).

Peugeot_Capsule_01

Solar cells would be mounted onto the roof

And with HMG’s recently announced £5,000 cash-back scheme for ‘leccy cars set to start in 2011, the Capsule could make for a pretty compelling purchase. ®

Customer Success Testimonial: Recovery is Everything

Latest Comments

Health and Safety

The chances of this vehicle meeting any of the safety criteria for a "car" are minimal. Triple the weight for protection of the occupant (air bags, crumple zone, etc), add real mirrors and bumpers, and you might have something, of course the range dropped to 30 miles, and the top speed to 35 mph.

Beck

0
0

i'd consider this...

something like this would be great, i've seen the same concept little 50cc engine mini-cars (and even a mini-pickup), but it's the sort of thing that electric power would suit

although the solar panels would be a joke, that size panels would probably get you about 1 mile of charge per very sunny day...

0
0

I want!

Gimme gimme gimme...

0
0

More from The Register

New material enables 1,000-meter super-skyscrapers
Before you read on, see if you can guess how the new stuff will be used
Boffins build headless robo-kitties
Soft kitty, warm kitty, cuddly little ball of wire kitty
 breaking news
You've seen the Large Hadron Collider. Now comes the HUGE Hadron Collider
International Linear Collider ready to rock and roll
 breaking news
Latest NASA ASTRONAUT class is HALF FEMALE
Newbie 'nauts include lady Marine fighter pilot, male doctor
Boffins find evidence Atlantic Ocean has started closing
'Embryonic subduction zone' that flattened Lisbon headed for Blighty
Google launches broadband balloons, radio astronomy frets
A careless Loon could blind the square kilometre array
Hubble spies unlikely planet being born in hostile neighborhood
Hoovering a cloud of sand 7.5 billion miles from a tiny star
 breaking news
Jaguar to open new car-making factory in Blighty (virtually)
Britain still makes stuff, it's just not real any more...
 breaking news
Spin doctors brazenly fiddle with tiny bits in front of the neighbours
Quantum computer address bus just nanometres wide
 breaking news
China's second woman 'naut blasts off for coupling in HEAVEN
Wang and pals test the cosmic waters for Chinese space station