Toyota's new i-ROAD is a flexible form of transport designed for getting around on city streets. The new Toyota i-ROAD with its compact size, maneuverability, easy parking, rapid charging and choice of an open or closed cabin makes it an ideal urban vehicle that allows individual freedom of mobility.
Seating two in tandem and under cover, the innovative three-wheel eco car uses Active Lean technology that automatically balances the vehicle when cornering or traveling over stepped surfaces. As a result, it is safe, intuitive and enjoyable to drive, with no need for driver or passenger to wear a helmet.
The i-ROAD is the latest concept to emerge from Toyota's 40 years of research and development of vehicles that use less energy, place less of a burden on the environment and are practical in meeting people's everyday transport needs.
It takes the company closer to its goal of creating the ultimate range of eco cars. Toyota is paving the way for several types of eco car to co-exist in the future, by adapting its Hybrid Synergy Drive technology for use in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles.
The ultra-compact, three-wheel i-ROAD measures 2,350 mm long and 1,445mm high and has a 1,700mm wheelbase. Its most significant dimension, though, is its width: at only 850 mm, which makes it no wider than a conventional two-wheeler. Not only does this make for easy maneuvering through congested traffic, it also means four can be parked in a single parking bay.
The zero-emissions, all-electric powertrain uses a lithium-ion battery to power two 2kW motors mounted in the front wheels, giving brisk acceleration and near-silent running. The battery can be fully recharged from a conventional domestic power supply in three hours with a range of up to 50 km on a single charge.
Toyota's new and entirely intuitive Active Lean technology is the key to i-ROAD's high levels of stability, safety, comfort and fun-to-drive character. The system uses a lean actuator and gearing mounted above the front suspension member, linked via a yoke to the left and right front wheels.
The actuator also operates when the i-ROAD is being driven in a straight line over stepped surfaces by automatically compensating for changes in the road to keep the body level.
No special skills are needed to pilot i-ROAD; the Active Lean system offers a unique driving experience with the enjoyment of riding a two-wheeler, but with no need for the driver to stabilize the vehicle when maneuvering at low speed, or when stationary.
As the driver doesn't have to put his feet on the road surface at any time, i-ROAD can be fitted with a safer, weatherproof, closed body and so can be driven without wearing a helmet.
This design also allows for a more car-like environment on board, with the potential for features such as lighting, heating, audio and Bluetooth to be provided.
Toyota envisages its i-ROAD concept has the potential to play a significant role in easing urban traffic congestion and reducing air pollution by lowering the levels of carbon dioxide, oxides of nitrogen and particulate emissions.
Toyota i-ROAD eco car offers low running costs, easy parking, maneuverability
Toyota i-ROAD eco car offers low running costs, easy parking, maneuverability
Arts festival’s decision to exclude Palestinian author spurs boycott
- A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival
SYDENY: A top Australian arts festival has seen the withdrawal of dozens of writers in a backlash against its decision to bar an Australian Palestinian author after the Bondi Beach mass shooting, as moves to curb antisemitism spur free speech concerns.
The shooting which killed 15 people at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Dec. 14 sparked nationwide calls to tackle antisemitism. Police say the alleged gunmen were inspired by Daesh.
The Adelaide Festival board said last Thursday it would disinvite Randa Abdel-Fattah from February’s Writers Week in the state of South Australia because “it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to program her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi.”
FASTFACTS
• Abdel-Fattah responded, saying it was ‘a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship.’
• Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival.
Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
Among the boycotting authors, Kathy Lette wrote on social media the decision to bar Abdel-Fattah “sends a divisive and plainly discriminatory message that platforming Australian Palestinians is ‘culturally insensitive.'”
The Adelaide Festival said in a statement on Monday that three board members and the chairperson had resigned. The festival’s executive director, Julian Hobba, said the arts body was “navigating a complex moment.”
a complex and unprecedented moment” after the “significant community response” to the board decision.
In the days after the Bondi Beach attack, Jewish community groups and the Israeli government criticized Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for failing to act on a rise in antisemitic attacks and criticized protest marches against Israel’s war in Gaza held since 2023.
Albanese said last week a Royal Commission will consider the events of the shooting as well as antisemitism and social cohesion in Australia. Albanese said on Monday he would recall parliament next week to pass tougher hate speech laws.
On Monday, New South Wales state premier Chris Minns announced new rules that would allow local councils to cut off power and water to illegally operating prayer halls.
Minns said the new rules were prompted by the difficulty in closing a prayer hall in Sydney linked to a cleric found by a court to have made statements intimidating Jewish Australians.
The mayor of the western Sydney suburb of Fairfield said the rules were ill-considered and councils should not be responsible for determining hate speech.
“Freedom of speech is something that should always be allowed, as long as it is done in a peaceful way,” Mayor Frank Carbone told Reuters.
