Further evidence of the coming fragmentation of personal transportation came today when Honda released details of the next iteration of its "Micro Commuter" prototype which we first saw at the Tokyo Motor Show last year . The new version is close to production-ready (without the extreme aerodynamics of the initial prototype) and concentrates the battery and functionality of the micro EV below the floor, enabling the vehicle's body to be easily changed to accommodate different functionality. It seemed so obvious 100 years ago, with an excess of petroleum, unreliable metallurgy and no concerns about air pollution, to over-engineer our automobiles so they'd have low stress, reliability and longevity, and be able to carry very large amounts of everything. There was only one casualty – efficiency. The folly of those ways is now equally obvious, and Honda's Micro Commuter Concept is at the extreme far end of the spectrum to that over-engineering approach.Bil...
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