Hiriko

Key takeaways

Hiriko belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Hiriko to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Hiriko from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Hiriko is a folding two-seat urban electric car that was under development by the Hiriko Driving Mobility consortium in the Basque Country of northern Spain. The electric car was to be the commercial implementation of the CityCar project developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab since 2003. The name Hiriko comes from the Basque word for "urban" or "from the city". Three versions were to be developed: the Fold microcar; the Alai, a convertible; and the Laga, a small truck. The Hiriko was to be designed specifically for short-distance urban carsharing programs and municipal fleets. A manufacturing trial aiming for 20 pre-production cars began in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, in July 2012. A pilot program was scheduled to take place in Germany in 2013 to integrate the Hiriko Fold into Deutsche Bahn's railway service to allow their customers the possibility of using a vehicle parked at the station with which to complete the last mile of the journey to their final destinations. Production was planned for the second quarter of 2013 with retail deliveries initially scheduled to begin in 2014, at a price starting at €12,500 (US$16,400) plus battery leasing fees. In May 2013 the Hiriko consortium announced the project was having difficulties to continue with the commercial development phase due to lack of financing. Sixteen months after the January 2012 debut of the Hiriko the firm collapsed before the start of any production. Only one test vehicle and two semi finished ones were ever produced. In 2015 public prosecutors in Spain accused six businessmen involved in the project of fraud.

History The concept behind the Hiriko urban electric car was originally conceived by William J. Mitchell and his Smart Cities Research Group at the MIT Media Lab in 2003 as the MIT Car and later the CityCar project. Upon William Mitchell's death, the project was led by Kent Larson, director of the Changing Places Research Group. The commercial development of the Hiriko began in 2010 in the Science park of Alava, Basque Country, by the Spanish consortium Hiriko Driving Mobility in collaboration with the Changing Places Group and the Spanish government, which provided about €15 million (US$18.5 million) in financial support. The Hiriko Driving Mobility consortium included seven Spanish companies under the promotion and leadership of the Association for the Development and Promotion of Industrial and Sport Activities from Alava (Afypaida), the Basque Center for Innovation Denokinn, and the Entrepreneurship and New Business Development Epsilon Euskadi. A production prototype of the Hiriko Fold was formally unveiled by the President of the European Commission José Manuel Durão Barroso in January 2012. The variable wheelbase concept used in the Hiriko was first introduced in the 1992 Renault Zoom concept car. The folding city car was invented in 1929 by Engelbert Zaschka, a three-wheeler with a single cylinder engine on the rear, which could be disassembled into three pieces.

Specifications The Hiriko car is a two-seat all-electric microcar designed to be used for short-distance urban trips intended for car sharing. The microcar is powered by a lithium-ion battery pack that allows a range of 120 km (75 mi). The drive motors are located inside each of the four wheels, and has an electronically controlled maximum speed of 50 km/h (31 mph). The consortium had plans to develop three versions: the Fold microcar, of which one demonstration car was completed; the Alai, a convertible; and the Laga, a small truck. The Hiriko Fold weighs less than 500 kg (1,100 lb), has an extended length of 2.5 m (98.4 in) and its hinged body allow the microcar to retract its front and rear modules, enabling the Hiriko to fold upwards to 1.5 m (59.1 in) for parking. This feature allows three and a half Hiriko Folds to fit in a typical urban parking space. Each of the four wheels can turn 60 degrees left or right, enabling the car to travel sideways, which makes parallel parking a very easy maneuver to accomplish, and this flexibility allows the car to spin on its central axis. Furthermore, the battery pack is placed on the vehicle's floor producing a low center of gravity. The driver and the passenger enter and exit the car through the front hatch that houses the windshield. The conventional steering wheel and the brake and throttle controls were replaced with a device similar to an airplane's yoke. When the driver pushes the control stick forward the car speeds up, while when pulled back the car slows down. Turns are made by moving the yoke control left or right.

Demonstration projects Production aiming for 20 test pre-production cars began in July 2012 in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain. These demonstration vehicles were supposed to be used for display and testing. In December 2012, Hiriko and Deutsche Bahn announced an agreement to start a carsharing pilot program in Germany in 2013 to integrate the Hiriko Fold into Deutsche Bahn's railway service to allow their customers the possibility of using a vehicle parked at the station with which to complete the last mile of the journey to their final destinations. The electric car sharing system is called eFlinkster, and Deutsche Bahn operates several of such car sharing fleets. The agreement also included an initial phase in 2013 in which the Hiriko folding was to be tested and adapted for public use in Berlin, and an official and broader roll out was planned for 2014.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hiriko

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hiriko claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Hiriko before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Hiriko ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Hiriko

In research: Hiriko appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Hiriko in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Hiriko is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Cars of Spain, Electric city cars, Electric concept cars, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hiriko outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Hiriko in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Hiriko means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Hiriko out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hiriko in simple terms?

The Hiriko is a folding two-seat urban electric car that was under development by the Hiriko Driving Mobility consortium in the Basque Country of northern Spain. The electric car was to be the commercial implementation of the CityCar project developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Me…

Why does Hiriko matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Hiriko?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Hiriko.