Traffic congestion and the cost of running a car have been pushing Chinese car manufacturers to think small. Electric scooters and motorcycles have long been popular and in the past several years more and more small electric cars are appearing on crowded urban roads. One popular three-wheeled electric vehicle has a large retractable bubble top, making it look like a futuristic car from a low-budget 1950s Hollywood movie.
But the small Chinese car has got even smaller as well as less expensive, thanks to a 60-year-old inventor in Shanghai. Xu Zhiyun, built his own petrol-driven mini car that measures 60cm long, 35cm wide and 40cm high. This looks like a large vacuum cleaner with a seat on top for the driver. It may look like a toy car, but it has an engine, an accelerator and braking and gearing. For night driving it has front and rear lights, a horn and for the driver’s pleasure, as well as anyone standing on the pavement when it zips by, a sound system.
Meanwhile in China’s Liaoning Province, a carpenter has built an electric car featuring a bodywork and chassis entirely of wood. The vehicle is able to attain 50km/h, measures 2.44mm long by 1.22m wide and the 350kg vehicle is equipped with lights and side mirrors. Special features include wooden missiles and a wooden radar receiver on its roof. This is the second electric vehicle the man has constructed, undeterred by a lack of any formal training or qualifications.
But the small Chinese car has got even smaller as well as less expensive, thanks to a 60-year-old inventor in Shanghai. Xu Zhiyun, built his own petrol-driven mini car that measures 60cm long, 35cm wide and 40cm high. This looks like a large vacuum cleaner with a seat on top for the driver. It may look like a toy car, but it has an engine, an accelerator and braking and gearing. For night driving it has front and rear lights, a horn and for the driver’s pleasure, as well as anyone standing on the pavement when it zips by, a sound system.
Meanwhile in China’s Liaoning Province, a carpenter has built an electric car featuring a bodywork and chassis entirely of wood. The vehicle is able to attain 50km/h, measures 2.44mm long by 1.22m wide and the 350kg vehicle is equipped with lights and side mirrors. Special features include wooden missiles and a wooden radar receiver on its roof. This is the second electric vehicle the man has constructed, undeterred by a lack of any formal training or qualifications.
