News - The Armadillo-T electric car folds itself up to park in small spaces

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Drive along, get out of the car then fold it and park it using smartphone controls.

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OK this is cool, shame it looks butt ugly.

The back folds up, engulfing the front, why not just remove the back and put the wheels where it folds?

surely it can't manoeurvre when folded up? So that means it needs space to park before folding. Unless you nose in at the roadside i suppose. Looks v gimmicky, plus i'm sure the trolley wheels will catch on every speed bump.

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Originally Posted by imshimaru

surely it can't manoeurvre when folded up? So that means it needs space to park before folding. Unless you nose in at the roadside i suppose. Looks v gimmicky, plus i'm sure the trolley wheels will catch on every speed bump.

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Eh unless I'm seeing things the trolley wheels fold up into the chassis in the video? :)

If it's as light as it looks you can probably push it around like a trolley once it's folded up! In fact, you'd have to be able to move it when folded in case someone parks right under your rear wheels and you can't unfold where you're parked!

And yeah, the trolley wheels fold back into the chassis so no more likely to catch than any other part of the undercarriage.

Not sure how well those trolly wheels would work on a "normal" (i.e. bumpy) road surface.

Can't imagine many people being happy to wait for a car to fold up and be maneuvered into a parking space in London. Also doubt the councils would offer any kind of parking discount for a car if it was taking up less space.

Neat - and a nice anti-theft device to cover the windows with car chassis (they did leave an opening at the top sadly).

Problem is, the car is probably so light you can pick it up entirely to steal it.

As an electric vehicle it would not get a congestion charge fee, nor car tax. One of these in a parking bay stops a full car parking in that bay, so it should attract the full fee. It's unlikely we'll see "half-bays" anytime soon just for these vehicles.

Great until someone parks right behind you & you can't unfold the car back !

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Originally Posted by Flash477

Can't imagine many people being happy to wait for a car to fold up and be maneuvered into a parking space in London. Also doubt the councils would offer any kind of parking discount for a car if it was taking up less space.

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Very confident that councils wouldn't offer any discount for parking in a full sized bay. On the other hand if this takes off then I'd assume that councils would generate bays for these things - and those could perhaps have reduced parking charges.
Answer to the problem of waiting for it to park is (a) how is that different to a normal car; (b) people in London should learn to chill a bit (like the rest of us do :p ); (c) combine this with one of those auto-park systems.

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Originally Posted by sykobee

As an electric vehicle it would not get a congestion charge fee, nor car tax. One of these in a parking bay stops a full car parking in that bay, so it should attract the full fee. It's unlikely we'll see "half-bays" anytime soon just for these vehicles.

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Don't agree, after all if the councils (and railways) can put out dedicated bays for electric cars then they is surely just a continuation. Heck, don't know about London, but I've seen special "motorcycle only" bays in car parks in York, Edinburgh and Newcastle. So if these cars take off (and I would have thought a deal with the councils themselves would be a good idea) then it stands to reason that the special bays should follow.

I'd happily drive one of them. It's not got the greatest looks, but it terms of what it does, that's all I'd need really.

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Originally Posted by Andi-C

Great until someone parks right behind you & you can't unfold the car back !

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absolutely thought the same thing!

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Video doesn't show that after folding the car you can use your smartphone to manoeuvre it into a parking spot

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That is cool, that would be awesome to have on any car! :P

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Originally Posted by GingerNinja

OK this is cool, shame it looks butt ugly.

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Center of gravity.

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Originally Posted by Rebo00

The back folds up, engulfing the front, why not just remove the back and put the wheels where it folds?

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Center of gravity.