“This is not a car!”- MOVE talks to Microlino creator Wim Ouboter

Picture: Microlino

“The strange TINY car built by a scooter company”- not what you would expect right? The Microlino is  one of the most anticipated cars of the year, except it’s not really a car at all. The Microlino is a lightweight microcar for two, and also, a fashion icon.

Inventor, Wim Oubouter, has designed a modern EV for the commuter age. MOVE spoke to Wim about the fantastic new design and how this will revolutionise city travel and the electric-car market!

The Microlino will be joining us at MOVE 2023, so don’t miss out and grab your tickets here.

 

Q: Tell us about yourself and how you found yourself in this industry. 

A: I was trained as a banker, but quickly realized, that I wanted to do something with impact. 

So I invented the kickscooter in 1999 and coined the term micromobility, in fact our company is named “Micro Mobility Systems”. So we have always thought about making mobility more sustainable and then at some point also started looking at other vehicle form factors. And when you put one step in front of the others, truly magic things can happen and so that is how we ended up not only producing kickscooters, but also having a car factory in Italy. 

 

  

Q: How was the idea of the Microlino created? 

A: So as we were always thinking about how to make urban mobility more eco-friendly, we came across a startling fact: there are just 1.2 people sitting in a car on average, driving just about 35km per day. And that made us think: how can we create a weather protected vehicle for two people that uses as little space as possible? And so we stumbled across the bubble cars from the 1950ies that served as a design inspiration for the Microlino. 

  

 

Q: It is described as the ‘perfect car for any city’. Why is this? What features make it unique? 

A: First of all, it needs only about one third of the space and due to its length and front door, it can cross-park. That means you can get three Microlinos in one parking spot. Also, it has space for two adults next to each other and three beer crates ion the trunk. With a max speed of 90km/h it can also drive on the highway if needed and with a maximum range of 230km it has more range than needed. 

All that while using only about one third of the energy both during production and usage than comparable small electric citycars. 

 

 

  

Q: What has been the response from prospective buyers to this vehicle? 

A: Amazing – we have received over 35’000 reservations! 

  

 

Q: What is your vision for the future of the Microlino? 

This product category in general should make up 30% of the new vehicle registrations in 5 years. It’s ambitious, but with the political will to downsizing, it is feasible, just look at Japan where the small Kei-Cars make up 40% of new registrations. 

  

 

Q: How important is the development of micromobility and smaller cars like this in creating smarter and more sustainable cities? 

I think it is absolutely crucial, because we cannot go on with just making cars electric – we have to move to lighter vehicle types also! Individual mobility will always be a need and therefore we need vehicles that pollute less and need less space than cars. 

 Find out more about the Microlino here: