Personal Mobility

The featured image is a mash-up of the BWM C1 and Piaggio MP3 scooters, generated by OpenAI’s Dall-e 3.

I think cycling is a great way to get around the city, but not everyone can ride them, only the most determined will ride them through the winter, and sharing space with cars is sub-optimal from a safety perspective.

For personal mobility, I sometimes thought it would be cool to combine a BMW C1 scooter (some crash protection, seat belt, some enclosure, helmet optional) with a Piaggio MP3 scooter, which has 3 wheels for stability. Ideally, add doors for weather protection and make it electric.

There have been a few attempts to market a small 3 wheeled electric car. A company called ElectraMeccanica sold a 3 wheeled electric car called the Solo for a few years.

And a Magna-affiliated company is looking to market a small, enclosed, 3 wheeled electric vehicle called SARIT.

For my family, walking, transit and running errands in a regular 4 door gas sedan meet our mobility needs. I continue to ride my bike, mostly for recreation. But maybe some day, we’ll all be driving small, personal, 3 wheeled electric vehicles.

Update 2024/10/14: A few readers contacted me to share that the Dall-e generated mashups looked a lot like the Renault Twizzy with BMW logos - and they really do!