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The SEAT Minimo made its debut at the 2019 Mobile World Congress in the company's hometown of Barcelona, and the concept previews how city mobility could look in the future.
Speaking at the car's unveiling, SEAT President, Luca De Meo, said: "The industry is adapting to changes in the way customers view personal transport. With the Minimó, the vision of our first product designed to purpose, SEAT is addressing those challenges, combining autonomous driving technologies with electric powertrain systems to create the future of urban-mobility".
Exterior
There's the huge elephant in the room in that it more than resembles the Renault Twizy, but the execution appears to be far better. For a start it has actual doors which are also asymmetrical, and these also open upwards in the same style to enable easy access even when parking in the tightest of spaces.
Measuring just 2.5m in length and 1.24m wide, the SEAT Minimo is barely half the size of an average hatchback It's so small that it can park nose-in to a kerb, thus reducing the amount of space required, and with so many city planners talking about how the amount of parking spaces in cities will reduce in the future this will be useful. Its single headlight is similar to what you'd expect to see on a motorcycle while at the rear there are two small taillights that carry SEAT's usual sharp design.
Interior
In front of the driver is a multifunction steering wheel and an all-digital instrument display. It has Google Assistant included so that drivers can make greater use of the voice controls for various functions such as entering a destination to the sat nav.
In order to keep the overall size of the car small, the Minimo adopts a 1+1 seating arrangement, with the passenger sitting directly behind the driver. To make it easier for them to get in and out, the door on the right is larger. With the left door being smaller it has allowed the designers to have a larger glazed area for those in the rear to have a better view.
The design of the rear seat means that when it isn't being use it can double up as a storage area for luggage. SEAT is also hinting that a single-seat commercial version could be easily produced that would be useful for small delivery companies in a city.
Mechanicals
The total driving range of the SEAT Minimo is 100 kilometres on a single charge. That might seem small in comparison to other electric vehicles, but unlike larger cars this is designed to live almost entirely in the city, where short distances and slower speed driving in the dominant factor, thus reducing the need for a larger battery.
Should such a car become a production reality in the future, SEAT will ensure that it has the latest driver assistance technology. The Mimimo platform could be capable of Level 4 autonomous technology, meaning that it would have high automation in certain driving conditions. In theory, the user could request the car (if it were part of a car sharing system), and it would be capable of driving to that point, upon which the user would get in and continue driving.
Anything else?
To combat the lower range due to its compact size, and therefore smaller battery, the Minimo features an interchangeable battery setup that allows for fast swapping. Such a design means that rather than having to wait around for it to recharge, users can just put in an already charged battery and carry on. This type of concept is already common with electric scooters in Bangkok through a company called Gogoro.