That’s possible because she lives in Peachtree City, Ga., a small town just south of Atlanta that started building a network of paths in 1974 that are accessible to golf carts, but not cars. It now extends more than 100 miles, serving 38,000 residents and their more than 11,000 registered carts. Nearly every destination and domicile in the town is accessible via a class of vehicle most Americans regard as a toy.
Peachtree City is unusual in the U.S., but outside of North America, infrastructure that supports city-focused, four-wheeled car alternatives is widespread, welcoming a new generation of tiny one- and two-passenger electric vehicles just as production of them is taking off.
The rapid growth of what some call “mini-mobility” is also being driven by the falling cost and increasing power of electric motors and batteries. Using new materials and taking advantage of newly designated vehicle classes—especially in the European Union—companies are sticking electric powertrains into vehicles of every imaginable weight class and size, from two to four wheels.
Of course, very small cars are nothing new. Japan’s ultracompact Kei cars were introduced soon after World War II, when most Japanese couldn’t afford full-size vehicles. Americans might remember the Smart Fortwo from the early part of this century. And the Hongguang Mini, which is barely 10 feet long and can be had for less than $5,000, has been the best-selling electric vehicle in China since 2020.
In Europe, Citroën introduced the electric Ami in 2020, which is technically a “light quadricycle” under EU rules. It retails for as little as $8,400, before incentives, and has a front end that is identical to its back, to save money on manufacturing. Under the rules laid out for the light-quadricycle vehicle class, it tops out at 28 miles an hour. For the average gear head, it’s about as appealing as riding to the store while perched atop a child’s Power Wheels.
But in France, the vehicle is popular thanks to its low cost, its compatibility with narrow streets, and the fact that teens as young as 14 can use it. Prior to the launch of the Ami, only about 13,000 light-quadricycle vehicles were sold every year in France, says Alain Le Gouguec, product manager of Citroën Ami. In 2021, the first full year it was available, sales of the Ami nearly doubled the size of that market, he adds.
Other companies, including a number of startups, are offering what they tout as full-fledged car alternatives, which go beyond the abilities of the Ami. These vehicles are faster and offer more protection to their occupants. You have to be an adult to drive them, and may need a conventional driver’s license.
One example is the Microlino, made in Turin, Italy, by Micro, a Swiss company you might know from its nearly-ubiquitous scooters for children. The Microlino costs upward of $16,000, but has a top speed of 55 mph, and a range of 59 to 143 miles, depending on the size of battery a buyer opts for. Other examples include the Yoyo from Hong Kong-based startup XEV, Renault’s Duo, and the forthcoming Luvly O, from Sweden.
Håkan Lutz, chief executive of Luvly—a play on “light urban vehicle”—says his goal in launching his startup in 2015 was to create a genuine alternative to a car, one that was far lighter, more compact, more affordable and required only a fraction of the resources to build and use. The vehicle is expected to cost $10,000.
“I would not ever think ‘A car is a relevant means of transportation within the city I travel,’ because it’s not,” says Lutz, who lives in Stockholm.
The vehicle’s designers eschewed the usual steel body panels, and opted instead for a lighter material that is a sandwich of two sheets of high-strength fiberglass, with a foam layer in between. These panels are similar in concept to the design of a surfboard.
One thing making these vehicles possible is the supply chain for batteries and motors that has developed in China, not only for traditional automobiles but also for electrified versions of everything that once required a gasoline engine, says Lutz.
McKinsey has projected that the global market for mini-mobility vehicles could reach $100 billion by 2030, from between $3 billion and $4 billion today. But analysts like Soumen Manal, head of automotive at market-research firm Counterpoint Research, are highly skeptical that any appreciable portion of that market will be in the U.S., where consumers have a demonstrated preference for ever-larger vehicles.
Year after year, the average dimensions and weight of vehicles in the U.S. continues to creep up, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, both because consumers are buying more SUVs than ever and because all classes of vehicles are growing in size and power.
Wide American streets, built to speed drivers to their destination at the expense of all else, are somewhat to blame. Many drivers feel the need to buy ever-larger vehicles to feel safe, says Norman Garrick, a professor of transportation engineering at the University of Connecticut.
In Europe, the trend toward ever-higher automobile ownership began to reverse only when citizens decided they’d had enough of rising fatalities and pollution, and beginning in the 1970s, pushed back. A move toward streets built to accommodate pedestrians and cyclists, and not just drivers, went hand in hand with a declining reliance on cars in these cities, says Dr. Garrick.
For Frederick, the mother of two in Peachtree City, that dream is already a reality. She has been living in a community that thrives on a distinctly American form of minimobility, the golf cart, for so long that she rarely gives it much thought.
“It’s just so normal here to have a golf cart to get around that it doesn’t even seem odd to me,” she says. “But I know it is.”
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Write to Christopher Mims at [email protected]