egmCarTech

Practicality has long been a hallmark of many European road vehicles for quite sometime, as evidenced by the number of smaller more urban-practical cars and scooters that have been on their roads. BMW has taken this staple of European automotive life and expanded upon it to derive their new C1-E Concept, which could best be described as moor ethan a scooter, yet less than a car.

Based on BMW’s C1 scooter, originally offered in Europe nearly a decade ago, the Munich automaker developed the C1-E, an electric concept scooter as a contribution to project eSum (European Safer Urban Motorcycling). Unlike a traditional scooter, the driver of the C1-E is encapsulated by what is dubbed the ’safety-cell’ which is a pod-like enclosure around the driver that serves to absorb impact and prevent roll-overs with its conspicuously designed roll over bar. Also not ordinary of scooters, the driver of the C1-E is secured via seatbelt.

The C1-E is powered by an electric motor based on components from Vectrix, an electric scooter manufacturer, and the lithium-ion battery powers sufficiently enough to master most inner-city traffic. BMW says that the C1-E could also be equipped with a small internal combustion engine.

The C1-E is not scheduled for production, as it is strictly a test-study, though the findings of the study will serve to improve the future state of single-track vehicle development.

Make the jump for the high-res image gallery.

BMW C1-E Concept:

- By: Stephen Calogera

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