In Cambodia in the summer of 2002, Khipra Nichols witnessed for the first time a sight common in developing countries - motorcycles being used in ways that Americans would consider anything but ordinary. Families of six crammed themselves onto one motorcycle, while street vendors used modified motorcycles to carry items such as carts, chickens and water cisterns.
"They were fitting on a bike stuff you would put in an SUV," he said. Nichols, associate professor of industrial design at the Rhode Island School of Design, started making sketches of possible alternative vehicles. "When I see a product being abused, I see an opportunity," Nichols said.
Since then, eMotive, a collaboration between Brown and RISD professors and students, has been developing an electrically powered crossover between motorcycles and cars that can hold four passengers.
The goal of the project is to create a new kind of vehicle that can address the specific concerns of developing nations while keeping in mind local conditions and the financial constraints of the users.
"It has to be multi-functional, very practical, really cheap, easy to repair and could generate income for the local economy," Nichols said. He pointed out that traffic accidents are the leading cause of death in Africa after AIDS, according to a 2004 World Health Organization report.
"We are trying to design and fabricate something that is small, light, energy efficient, fun-to-drive and easily adapted to user needs," said Christopher Bull, a senior research engineer at Brown.
Bull, who has worked on alternative vehicles in the past, became involved in the project in the fall of 2003. By then, Nichols had already teamed up with Michael Lye, an industrial design lecturer at RISD, and the two used their faculty research grants to go on trips to California and Italy to look at other alternative vehicle projects.
The prototype vehicle, in its third stage of development, currently has four wheels like a car but is steered like a motorcycle. It is powered by batteries located under the seat.
The team has tested the vehicle in its different stages of development around the lab and for brief drives on the roads around Barus and Holley, but they are still in the process of making it street-legal in Rhode Island.
eMotive's team members want to make the vehicle as adaptable as possible, but the huge number of possibilities they face makes their job difficult, Lye said. Making the vehicle adaptable to local power sources, finding alternative uses such as the transportation of people or goods and designing an adaptable front seat for female drivers are innovations they have considered but not yet implemented, Lye said.
Lye said he is prepared for the possibility that the project might not be manufactured for mass consumption but may instead serve as concept vehicle that could generate future production.
"We don't currently have the means to commercialize it - we need outside partners. Then it could take from six months to two years," Lye said. eMotive is funded by research grants to Nichols and Lye, as well as RISD/Brown Collaboration grant.
Adam Geremia RISD GS, a student working on the project, will conduct the research into local customs and attitudes towards safety to make the vehicle adaptable to local conditions. "This has the potential for being manufactured and making a difference," he said.
The team predicts that the final prototype will be ready in 2008, at which time they plan to take one or two vehicles to a developing country and lend them to families who will then provide feedback.
The team is currently considering different business plan models to take the project forward. "One way we have considered is to offer the design to local entrepreneurs in some South Asian country," Bull said.
It will be difficult to challenge local attitudes towards safety and market a vehicle that may be more expensive than a motorcycle, Nichols said. "We want to create something with them that they will be attracted to. ... There has to be a fun factor."
Ultimately, project team members aim to challenge user perceptions about adequate forms of transportation. Michael Chen'07, who is writing a program that will be able to test and measure the vehicle's performance, said this project has the potential to change the future of transportation. "This vehicle is thinking into the future," he said.
"We are fighting against the idea that one size fits all," Bull said. "A car is not always the best solution. It's much bigger than it needs to be. In an urban setting, small and light is better."
