If you own, or have owned, an iPhone, you know the foibles of battery life, or lack thereof. Electric vehicle range anxiety pales in comparison to mobile Apple anxiety. I mean, how else is the world expected to read important Facebook status updates? Thanks goodness for cell phone battery extenders, something the EV market lacks…until now.
While only a concept, Frank M. Rinderknecht of Rinspeed is working on Dock+Go, a third axle system for an electric Smart car. Technical details are scant, but from what the images show, the supplemental axle carries a box that docks to the rear of the vehicle, converting the conventional four-wheeled Smart into a six-wheeler. While the Dock+Go should dramatically increase the electric Smart’s contact patch (not that the anemic vehicle needs it), the true efficacy of the automotive “backpack,” or rickshaw, comes from what can be stored in it. The press release cites heated box for pizza deliveries or toolbox for industrial uses as examples, but where the Dock+Go really glows, electrically, is in its application as a range extender by carrying an auxiliary engine, fuel cell or battery pack. Think Mophie for the iPhone, only bigger.
While it sounds like far-fetched sci-fi stuff relegated to science magazines, Rinspeed announced a Dock+Go concept will be revealed at the 2012 Geneva Auto Show.
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