kei

Nissan Sakura mini EV (Source: Nissan) A new breed of electric vehicles is drawing inspiration from Japanese kei cars, tiny cubes-on-wheels that are highway-legal but not likely to pass muster with US or EU safety standards. But what if we loosened up those standards to help lower prices, enabling broader adoption of EVs to people who don’t have 30 grand or more to spend on a car? That is, at least, one of the ideas that French automaker Renault’s head Luca de Meo has put on the table.…

At the dawn of the current EV revolution, Mitsubishi launched a highway-capable, mass-produced five-door hatchback called the i-MiEV, followed by an electric version of its veteran microvan. Now that Minicab-MiEV is being updated for 2024.Mitsubishi's Minicab platform started life way back in 1966 with a kei-sized combustion-engine pickup truck, followed by a van model a couple of years later. Numerous versions have followed in the decades since, but the first electric prototype began testing in 2010. The company reports…

HW Electro, reported to be Japan's first commercial EV manufacturer, has revealed a new light electric concept called the Puzzle, a boxy minivan designed with disaster relief in mind and sporting external power outlets, USB ports, a crowbar and a first aid kit.The Puzzle concept was first unveiled at the 2023 Japan Mobility Show late last month, and was recently previewed to the automotive press in New York ahead of confirmed US availability from 2025.Full details for the cute kei van are yet to be revealed, but we do…

If you can't build out, build up. It works for city buildings, and a Japanese design firm is trying to make it work for city bikes. The Streek electric trike from Yokohama's Envision Incorporated carries two levels of cargo inside a high-rise loop frame compact enough for tight city streets and paths. Like a smaller answer to the kei vans popular in Japanese micro-camper design, the Streek three-wheeler looks to be a practical load-carrying solution for high-traffic city centers where ground space is at an absolute…