'Green car of the future' unveiled

Much like jet-packs, time-machines and robots that can do the washing up and make a decent cup of tea we, at Greenbang, are still waiting for all the ‘cars of the future’ peddled to us by boffins in flared brown cordorouy suits on programmes like ‘Tomorrow’s World’ in the 1970s.

And still, today, the auto show favourites are always the ‘concept cars’ manufacturers claim we’ll all be driving around in 10 years.

The latest, at the Paris Motor Show, is the ‘green car of the future’ unveiled by Nissan. Called the Nuvu, the motor company claims we’ll all be driving cars like this by the middle of the next decade.

It is, of course, an electric vehicle and at just three metres long is compact and made for the urban city dweller familiy of the future.

The Nuvu has two regular seats and a third ‘occasional’ chair that can be folded down when required. In the interests of saving both weight and space, the third seat has a centre section made from hammock-like netting, which allows cool or warm air to circulate around the occupant’s body for extra comfort. Which sounds nice.

All the major functions – steering, braking, transmission and throttle – are ‘By-Wire’ while the steering is controlled by an aircraft-style steering yoke with just one turn from lock to lock for better agility and maneuverability in the city.

The batteries used are the latest laminated lithium-ion type and have a capacity of 140 Wh/kg (watt-hours per kilogram) but the total capacity of the batteries and number of modules in the Nuvu are not being disclosed by Nissan yet.

Will we ever actually see a car like this on the road? Who knows, but Greenbang’s betting it’ll be stuck with its trusty Ford Cortina for a few more years yet.