Three-wheeled e-scooter offers added stability, but still leans into turns

The Electromobile City Scooter demonstrator vehicle, on display in Hannover

While electric scooters are considerably cheaper and easier to park than electric cars, many people are still put off by the idea of having to balance on two wheels. Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering is addressing that problem, with its leaning three-wheeled Electromobile City Scooter.

Ordinarily, trikes can’t lean into turns. On the Fraunhofer scooter, however, the two air-sprung rear wheels are suspended separately, allowing them to move independently of one another. It’s a setup that we’ve seen at least once before, on the Deliver-E Trike.

For the current Electromobile City Scooter demonstrator vehicle, engineering firm GreenIng simply removed the single rear wheel assembly from an existing E-max 110S electric scooter, and swapped in Fraunhofer’s double rear wheels.

A possible future version of Fraunhofer's scooter

“We demonstrated that our idea works on a real scooter,” says project leader Daniel Borrmann. “In the next step, we want to make the vehicle even more comfortable. For example, by means of systems for riding helmet-free, for protecting riders from the elements, and for luggage storage.” Other possibilities include smartphone integration, a heads-up display, inductive charging and an anti-theft system.

 

Source: Fraunhofer