FRANKFURT, Germany -- Neither a car nor a motorbike but a "project" is how Peugeot describes its extraordinary electric BB1 vehicle, making its debut at the 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show.
Despite being only 98.4 inches long, it seats four adults, who sit tandem fashion, the rear seat occupants' legs wrapping around the torso of the front passengers. The BB1's occupants adopt the posture of bike riders. Their seats provide no more than vestigial backrests, and this packaging is the key to the Peugeot's provision of four seats. As with a bike, the driver steers via a pair of handlebars, which rotate through 40 degrees each way for a very compact 22.9-foot turning circle.
The BB1 is propelled by two rear-mounted in-wheel electric motors co-developed with tiremaker Michelin, which has been working on this technology for several years. Each motor develops 15 kw nominal and 20 kw peak power, but more significantly, 236 pound-feet at each wheel. No wonder designer Yann Pissonier, who has driven the prototype, describes BB1's acceleration as "vivacious." Its top speed is currently 56 mph and range is 75 miles from its under-seat lithium-ion batteries, but those figures are likely to improve with development.
And Peugeot will pursue the BB1's development. A spokesman described the project as "very serious." Intriguingly, he describes the BB1 as being on the edge of qualifying as a quadricycle and believes that it will need a new homologation classification.
Peugeot's motorbike division has played a key role in the concept's development, and its tubular steel understructure is indeed similar to a motorbike's. The concept's body is carbon fiber, contributing to its low 1,212-pound weight, although a production version would be clothed in different materials to reduce costs. A rough price for this city transport would be half the price of the Mitsubishi-based Peugeot Ion, at the equivalent of $21,885.
Sitting in the BB1 is impressive because of the bike seating position as well as because of the unexpected impression of space. That feeling is partly provided by the glass roof but also by the compactness of its saddlelike seats.
Inside Line says: The BB1 is surely one of the most radical cars at Frankfurt, and you can be sure that Peugeot will attempt to see it through to production. — Richard Bremner, Correspondent
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