According to G.M., half of all urban vehicle trips are three miles or less and 28 percent are one mile or less. In cities, more than 85 percent of vehicles have only one occupant. Projecting that by 2030 more than 60 percent of the world’s population will reside in urban environments, G.M. is developing the EN-V, a 2-passenger urban mobility vehicle with 25 miles range at 25 mph that charges from a wall outlet. 

It’s an interesting concept, but how does it really improve over the electric golf carts that seniors zip around on in retirement communities? Yeah, the EN-V features connectivity to realtime traffic data via GPS and other technologies, but with a 25 mile range at 25 mph in a vehicle 1/6th the size of today’s average car, who is seriously going to be on a commute where congestion is an issue and have the need to receive detour info in real time?  

Not to discourage the development of cars like this, but the technology needs to catch up with the concept before these vehicles are mass marketed as an alternative commuting option for urbanites.

Click through the photo for the NY Times story on the G.M. EN-V.