At times when brands like Tesla, BMW & Audi are moving to EVs, quoting to eco-friendliness, an American student drives the approach to an entirely new, lego-like electric car that could be easily assembled on your own.
Hoga – Lego-like Electric Car
Readying up a project concept has become challenging and burden to final year graduates, but not for this designing student.
Ryan Schlotthauer, a design student in US, has designed a concept vehicle ‘Hoga’, for his final semester project, that could be completely stacked by drivers / owners themselves. Ryan took social media, that happened to be the fuel for discussions envisioning the collaboration between Ikea and Renault. The cofunction, however is too idealistic to be true, but has a way to think outside the box.
Fashioning as a ‘kit car’, this teeny tiny vehicle adapts IKEA’s design philosophy of production, packaging and practical use to give the users a comfortable ride that’s highly functional. “Clever, low cost and sustainable”, is what IKEA-inspired mobility concept aims to be, having no arbitration to safety, usable interior space or ease of use. This is combined with Renault’s advanced mobility platform to create an inroad urban feasible transport, placing sustainability in the front.
Priced $6500, Ryan says, “As designers, we must design for a sustainable future. The human-centric design has only led to cars that end up in landfills. It’s our responsibility to find solutions.”
Features & looks of Hoga
The bright and catchy yellowish hue body of the car, provides seats for two adults, stretching 2.3 meters long and 1.8 meters high. Not just with that, but also accommodates extra luggage, a bicycle and even loads of cartoon boxes. The shape of the car is inspired by the classic Bauhaus principle of clean and purposeful design (a principle of design).
Though simple, Hoga emerges as an effective vehicle, wherein few hours are enough for a person to assemble it, thanks to its simple lego-like attachable parts, in justice to symmetry.
The cabin is impressive. A steering wheel and a front large display windscreen render a fresh look to the car, as the passengers can enter from the front, via a fully opened windscreen. Similarly, the rear window also opens up enabling you to load more.
With 374 total parts and 114 individual parts that has to be stacked before meandering on roads, the vehicle’s body could be recycled and the main structure is upcycled. In addition, it is designed with the vision that it won’t end up in landfills creating any waste.
Have you seen this? Smartphone that can be upgraded on your own!
This sounds like quite an impossible task for such a teeny tiny vehicle, but it’s achievable-on paper. Whatever proved on paper, strives for its reality in nature; just as time-travelling being feasible now theoretically (mathematically) and somehow future may contain the replies for these.
The collaboration between IKEA and Renault, with emerging ideas might bring a realistic market selling electric car in future.
