" charges itself along the motorway "

Surely the best way to do that would be to drive into the local town, onto a train, charge while moving, off at destination to local area. Switch trains as reqd.

Going long distance in a small (or micro) car is not comfortable. Equally taking a toolkit, spares kit, laptop etc on a train on foot is a faff - leaving all the luggage in the car is easy. The problem is no one seems to want to make a ro-ro train (as per chunnel) which runs at a rate approaching metro lines so you don't have to wait long. I would argue that would be much safer too rather than trying to have every driver concentrate 100% for hours at a time.

Hello Anthony,

Answer your question about a small, compact electric vehicle that can be traveled outside the city

Go to the link:
https://carnewschina.com/2015/01/10/spotted-in-china-the-lichi-a01-ev


Successfully

It strikes me that giving the car an engine large enough to propel a car at motorway speeds, and then giving it the motors and control gear to run as a full EV isn't going to be very efficient, compact or cheap.  Instead, you could create an EV with a slightly bigger battery, so that it can run a decent range on battery.  Then add a small electric generator to stop the battery running flat on long journeys.  This has the advantage that the petrol engine does not need to be large enough to power the vehicle on its own, just to keep the battery topped up when averaged out over a journey.


At that point, you have the BMW i3 REX, which is no longer made, but still available second-hand.  The only down-side with that vehicle is that having been made by BMW, it isn't exactly cheap.

What is your user requirement: number of seats, luggage/cargo carrying capacity; top speed; unrefueled range; time for refuelling; etc?


If you only need city type journeys for two with limited 'cargo' capacity, what about an electric Renault Twizy?

https://www.renault.co.uk/vehicles/new-vehicles/twizy.html or how about a hybrid Smart car?
https://www.jct600.co.uk/blog/best-hybrid-electric-cars/ 


Or take a second hand small car and convert it to an EV or a hybrid (VW Beetle, Smart Fortwo City car, etc
http://www.evalbum.com/4000 


I can see the logic of a hybrid Smart car (600cc engine/generator to drive hybrid transmission) for mainly city driving on low emissions and a small 'motorway causing' mode with ICE.


​​​​​​​But would a small Hydrogen FCEV be a cleaner more sustainable vehicle?

Not a two seat concept car,  a proper car like the Fiat 500

that has four seats allowing four adults to travel over a hundred miles on a motorway in relative comfort. 


Andy Betteridge

A cheap hybrid version of the old Fiat 500 petrol and new electric Fiat 500 ?
https://www.carbuyer.co.uk/news/163871/all-new-fiat-500-will-debut-in-2020-with-electric-power-only 


Problem is using the words 'hybrid' and 'electric' in new car offerings means extra 'ooh that's far more expensive' $$$$$ to conventional car manufacturers.


Oh if only there was a Community Interest Company/Not for Profit company that focused on a few variants of good quality second hand cars and converted them to affordable (define) hybrid or EV or FCEV.

The all electric Fiat 500 is going to be an upmarket fully loaded car, with a price tag to match priced alongside the all electric Mini.


Petrol engined cars are still more versatile with a quick fill up at the filling station pumps transferring a lot of energy quickly.  If push comes to shove you can carry enough fuel for getting on for half the range of an electric car in a five litre plastic fuel can in the boot. 


Andy Betteridge 

Hello Sparkingchip,

Why don't you offer Toyota Hybrid Auris model. Very economical (integrated internal combustion engine and electric).

Don't forget that Toyota is a very reliable vehicle.

Niche market for a small hybrid FCEV, no emissions when running on H2, normal small car features and performance, v quick to re-fuel (mins), many miles running on Fuel Cell (depending on storage), etc. If there is a demand, there will be a supply, will be more costly initially, but like all technology, it will take a few years to get to 'cost parity' with ICE cars as the battery EV and FCEV technology goes to mass production and costs and productivity improve.


Already on the market or entering, but still niche
https://www.hyundai.co.uk/new-cars/nexo 
https://www.riversimple.com/the-design-of-the-rasa/

As well as having a diesel van I have a little Daihatsu Hi Jet pickup, which is actually a rebadged Piaggio made in Italy.


The pickup has a 1300cc petrol engine and had a dealer LPG conversion which was grant assisted, because in 2004 LPG was seen as a good option for running vehicles.


The local Calor Gas depot moved earlier this year and they did not reinstall the road fuel pump at the new depot, logically they would be running their own vehicles on LPG and would have put the pump back in for their own use as well as for others to use.


I have not put any LPG in the pickup since last year, the MOT tester was getting sniffy about tested the gas tank and pipework and as gas is not available locally it was just easier to to give up using it.


Will hydrogen have a better uptake and longevity than LPG?


Andy Betteridge