One-seater ultra-compact EV car announced by F1 designer

The MOTIV is a single-seater, compact electric car released by former F1 machine designer Gordon Murray, who designed legendary supercars.

Murray, from South Africa, has designed numerous F1 machines for the Melalek team since the 1980s and led drivers like Ailton Sena to world championships. In the 1990s, he created the McLaren F1, a supercar for road driving, and set a record for the fastest speed of a commercially available car. However, at the 2013 Motor Show, focusing on the development of small commuters for urban use through the design studio he established, he introduced a small car called Motiv.

Gordon Murray Design announced during the next generation mobility exhibition (MOVE 2020) held in London, UK on February 11th, as an upgraded version of this product, based on an autonomous driving platform as an ultra-small electric vehicle. The new motif is a one-seater ultra-compact electric car, which is equivalent to a four-wheeled microcar in Europe.

The body combines a chassis made of extruded aluminum and a panel made of composite material based on the proprietary design technology iStream, invented by Gordon Murray. The suspension is also aluminum. Since it is lightweight, has high rigidity, and has a simple structure, it has the advantage that the production cost and time are much smaller than that of a general passenger car. The size is 2,537×1310×1628mm, which is small and meets European passenger car crash safety standards. Vehicle weight can be suppressed to 450kg or less.

The specifications of the power unit can be changed in various ways depending on the purpose of use, but the concept car exhibited has a maximum output of 20 kW, so 27 horsepower, a maximum torque of 46.4 NM and a maximum speed of 65 km/h. The battery can be quickly charged from 20% to 80% in 40 minutes. Steering or brake is not mechanical, but bi-wire, so it is small and light because it is a structure that sends an electric signal to be operated by a motor. Of course, this method is also suitable for autonomous driving. Of course, it plans to entrust other specialized companies to mount autonomous driving. This place only provides a platform, but in the case of autonomous driving, it is recruiting partners. It is said that this concept car can be mass-produced within 2 to 5 years.

The interior aims to be a comfortable and comfortable space for getting on and off. On the premise of autonomous driving, it is assumed that one person can rest, work, or use it as a personal space in the car. One-seater is because more than 80% of vehicles run alone in the UK, and the average number of passengers in Europe is only 1.1 to 1.2. Of course, this platform itself is said to be able to cope with seat expansion and multi-ride and wheelchair rides. It is said that if the vehicle layout is changed, it can carry up to 1,100 liters of luggage, making it possible for short-distance delivery. Related information can be found here .