To call it eccentric is to be generous: the Walkcar electric scooter is the size of an iPad Pro, or a laptop, but with wheels. It intrigues and immediately captures attention: for some time it has gone viral every time it appears online on some video, but today it is actually on sale.
Imagine if your laptop had wheels and stopped on it to get around town. It's practically what you find with the Walkcar electric scooter, a sort of 4-wheel iPad. There Cocoa Motors he conceived almost an electric skateboard. ALMOST, mind you. Not entirely. In reality it is a vehicle that makes us understand how close we are to further "shrinking" our personal transport choices. From micromobility to nanomobility. Here because.
Basic principles
The Walkcar wheels are arranged in a square, and the front ones are powered by electric motors. The two rear wheels instead turn to help steer. You actually curve by tilting your body weight from side to side. Acceleration and braking are controlled with forward and backward inclination, a bit like the doyen of electric scooters, the first Segway invented from that genius of Dean Kamen. And I have to say that the method of accelerating and braking is pretty much the only thing Walkcar shares with everything we've seen before.
Walkcar, the 4-wheeled iPad has no peers when it comes to micromobility options.
The sight of a vehicle like this, to be held in the hand or placed in a bag, to be used for trips of a few kilometres, opens up new scenarios. Of course, it is a progenitor, even more imperfect. But it makes us understand that transport options can be "granular", and offer even smaller solutions in addition to micromobility. Nanomobility solutions.
Let's face it: it could also be a nice little last-mile vehicle, with an emphasis on the "mile" part. With the small 68Wh battery that is found you certainly can't expect to go far. At most we can define it as a vehicle "of the last two miles", more does not do, in my opinion. In spite of the parent company's declarations, which give it an autonomy of 5km (and it would already be 3 miles) in sport mode or 7km (and it would already be 4 miles) in Eco mode. Would you trust it without trying it for about fifteen days?
On the speed side, however, a slow-walker like me approves: the "sport" mode brings Walkcar to 16 kilometers per hour, the Eco mode returns the dimension of a brisk walk, going at a maximum of 10km per hour. And it actually weighs as much as a large laptop! Just 2,9kg, thanks to a carbon fiber bridge and an aluminum frame.
The smallest wheel motors in the world
Cocoa Motors says so, not me. But I have no arguments to deny the statement. In all respects, for a vehicle capable of climbing even 10° slopes, with 260W continuous and 600W peak, the dimensions are surprising.
Like the price
After trials, stolen videos and refinements, presales began in Japan at a price of 198.00 yen. Are you sure you want to know how many euros there are? About 1800. And it is exactly here that I get off the nice Walkcar, thank the gentlemen and go on, towards a much higher power scooter at the same price.