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| Nissan's Mobility Concept Vehicles NMC in New York City. |
We were welcomed to New York City prior to the New York
International Auto Show by Nissan to take a drive in their Mobility Concept
Vehicle (NMC), an ultra-compact, all electric, four-wheel runabout. This was an
informal meet and greet with the #NissanFutureLab Team.
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| Nissan held an informal gathering prior to The New York International Auto Show to drive the NMC. |
Prior to our taking this little quad out for an exciting drive in New York City’s crazy traffic, we sat down with Nissan’s JoshWesterhold, an Urban Planner by training and mobility guru by profession, to hear all about this vehicle.
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| No rear window on the Nissan Mobility Concept Vehicle. |
The NMC is all electric with a top
speed of 45 mph and a range of 40 miles on a single charge. Designed for the
sole purpose of transporting one or two people from place to place. The NMC vehicle has a rugged look with outboard fendered
wheels and exposed struts.
While it has a cabin with a windshield and scissor-like doors that swing forward. It is open to the elements with no side windows.
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| Looking inside the cockpit of the Nissan Mobility Concept Vehicle. A very simple dashboard with basic controls. |
The interior is clean and simple, with a single driver’s seat. It can either be fitted with a tandem rear seat, or a package tray, to carry a second person or a small cargo of items. The NMC is without HVAC, but has an instrument cluster that tells you speed and battery life.
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| #NissanFutureLab's Mobility Concept Vehicle instruments are basic. |
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| Nissan Mobility Concept Vehicle has exposed fenders, headlights and a mono-blade windshield wiper. |
Outside it has the basics of a road
vehicle, a mono-blade windshield wiper and turn signals, headlights and rearview
mirrors, as there is no back window.
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| Segway Expericmental Vehicle |
Indeed the NMC is on the tiny side of compact, smaller than the NYC Pedi-cabs, and a Nissan Leaf is a behemoth in comparison. So wrangling for space on NYC’s crowded streets with taxicabs and black car limousines was like flying an RC plane alongside 747’s.
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| The view of the streets of New York City from inside Nissan Mobility Concept Vehicle. |
Driving on NYC streets in any vehicle is a testimate to your metal. Driving the NMC reminded me of when I was a kid, hot-rodding the riding lawnmower at full speed. While the NMC does have a suspension, you did get to feel every bump, and driving over rattling manhole covers, made you wonder if they were going to swallow you before a bus ran over you!
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| Charging port on the front of the NMC. |
But size has its advantages in the jungle of NYC, the NMC slipped into small openings in traffic, pulling into the space between vehicles, that the drivers of larger vehicles thought were already tight. The NMC was nimble enough to slip in, and the battery powered electric motors were powerful enough for you to speed off when you had the chance.
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| Nissan's basic dash and instrument cluster on the NMC. |
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| #NissanFutureLab |
The Nissan Mobility Concept is a product of the joint partnership between France’s Renault and Japan’s Nissan, known as the Twizy, debuting a concept vehicle in 2009, and has been on the market in Europe since 2012.
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| Nissan, Innovation that Excites |
This little Electric Vehicle is already in use in European cities, and here in the USA, it is part of a test fleet in San Francisco’s Scoot Network, (a scooter rental service) and labeled the Scoot Quad.
While not planned for the consumer market, other than a few urban
test fleets, you can find out more about this vehicle on Nissan’s website. #NissanFutureLab
