Ok, I know that concepts are most irritating at the best of times, a manufacturer will release a render, or a sculpture of the coolest looking thing on the face of the planet, everyone says "sweet mother of the apocalypse that is amazing, give me one!" and they bring out another modern/retro/stodgy/pile of the same. This silly concept business has now been extended... Electric Scooter Concepts... from not one but TWO car manufacturers!

Who do we blame? well both Mercedes Benz via SMART and BMW via MINI, both have shown (admittedly cool looking) e-scoot concepts. The styling of the MINI branded version looks fantastic and the idea behind the SMART one is what we have been saying for years... Shame they won't build either of them... Hold on, they say they will be available for sale, apparently in a format very similar to shown... I'm not sure who the market is going to be but I have been wrong before so we shall see. Briefly, just so you know what is going on.

SMART: Modern styling, in wheel electric motors, not exactly ground breaking. iPhone 4 slots into headstock to become dashboard/key/gps/navigation etc etc... this is actually a pretty good idea (assuming it still starts if your phone goes flat)... we have said for years that if Apple were to make a scooter that was all cool and modern and high tech and market the hell out of it they would sell a bundle. Apple however won't make one... will SMART stick with it?

MINI: There are actually THREE concepts from MINI, but realistically they are variations on a theme... Modern-Retro styling, electric motor, a bit more conventional... well perhaps not, it has a big round "MINI" styled dashboard with a large rectangular space to "snap in your smart phone" No word on which phone... or if they have a "super adapter" of some sort... same thing goes, will they build it? who will buy it? actually scrap that, I know who will buy it... I'm guessing that the price will mean people who want to  say they ride an electric moped will buy them, and tell everyone how green they are... because you need an electric MINI scooter to go with your electric MINI... and the same goes with the e-SMART scoot and the e-SMART car

How long till we get an e-LANDROVER Scooter???

Press Release on Page 2(SMART) and Page 3(MINI)