Return of the bubble car and this time it's battery-powered: VW to reveal new super-green 'aerodynamic bathtub'



Previous attempts at producing a single-seater car have been met with widespread ridicule.

Despite this, Volkswagen is planning to unveil its own one-man car within two weeks.

The manufacturer of the electronic car claims it will generate no carbon dioxide as it hums through city streets.

They admit, however, that the car will have limited uses and would be unsuitable for motorway journeys.

Fuel miser: Volkswagen's two-seater car from 2008 (pictured) could do 282miles to the gallon. The German auto manufacturer is gearing up to unveil a new super-green 21st century single-seat bubble car

Bubble car: The Isetta microcar

VW has remained tight-lipped about what the car looks like, how fast it will go and how much it will cost.

The German carmaker plans to offer a ‘full-service package’ to customers by selling them power from renewable sources with their electronic car.

It hopes the car will be popular with drivers keen on reducing their carbon footprint. The vehicle will release no harmful emissions if powered by the renewable energy provided, VW claims.

Jurgen Leohold, head of research at VW, said: ‘It's a new kind of mobility, a new vehicle concept.

‘Also, it’s physics. If you limit a car to one person, you can make it smaller with less weight. You need less energy to transport the person, and then it can be better on CO2 and fuel efficiency.’

VW will no doubt be aware of the failures to introduce such cars in the past.

Away from the racing circuit, single-passenger vehicles are a rarity in the history of the car industry.

Previous attempts include the Sinclair C5 - a battery-powered tricycle steered by a handlebar beneath the driver's knees.

The £399 car, which had a top speed of 15mph, became an object of popular ridicule during the 1980s and was a commercial disaster, selling only around 17,000.

Despite its shortcomings, Sir Clive Sinclair claimed recently that it ‘remains the best-selling electric vehicle of all time’.

Like a cockpit: The super-economical 2008 VW concept car was a limited edition And in November 2010 he said he was working on a new single-seater car which he is planning to launch towards the end of this year. ‘Technology has moved on quite a bit, there are new batteries available and I just rethought the thing,’ he said. ‘The C5 was OK, but I think we can do a better job now.’

Other attempts at breaking into the single-vehicle market include the Segway - a two-wheeled, self-balancing electric scooter.

Open top: VW's new bubble car will be a successor to this two-seat model However, it has failed to take off in Britain largely because it is banned on public roads. Ferdinand Piech, VW’s chairman, has long spoken of his desire to launch a super-efficient microcar. In 2002, he drove to a shareholders’ meeting in a small, teardrop shaped two-seater car. His company is trying to become the leading electric car manufacturer as it pursues a broader ambition to become the biggest vehicle maker on the planet by 2018. By then the company wants to battery-powered vehicles to make up 3 per cent of its total sales.