Unicycle handy in tight spots

ELECTRIC CONCEPT: Plug-in electric Honda is at the Tokyo motor show.

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To be revealed at next week's Tokyo Motor Show, is an electric car that has a powered unicycle in its passenger door for when traffic jams get really impassable, writes DAVE MOORE.

Star of Honda's stand next week at Japan's national motorshow will be a car with a familiar look about it. It's known simply as the EV-N and the reason that it exudes a touch of deja vu is because Honda has used its first ever serious production car as its styling template.

Back in the 60s Honda introduced its N360 and N600 micro cars, with the hope that they'd do to the four-wheeled market what its famous 50cc step-through did to the two-wheeled trade.

They didn't, of course - that was left to the Civic a few years later - but the parallel twin- cylinder cars were interesting, nice to look at and in 600cc form, with 34kW propelling just 550kg, they would outrun a 1000cc Mini.

I'd imagine that the EV-N would be at least as quick, but Honda is especially coy about the exact output of its electric car, though the company does brag about the clip-on unicycle it has in one of its two doors, and the fact that a solar panel in the roof helps charge the car and its cycle.

The electrically-powered EV-N is contrived to be the default choice for tight city streets and even tighter parking slots and is intended for short commutes in places like Tokyo. Then, when things come to a standstill, or when you find your way to your expensive car park, the unicycle can be unclipped and you can weave and twist the rest of the way to the office.

The unicycle is called the U3-X and when riding it, the operator can adjust the speed and direction of the device and move, turn and stop in all directions simply by shifting their upper bodyweight.

Inside, the EV-N offers a surprising amount of passenger and cargo space. It does so by employing that celebrated French technique of using slim seat designs that take up very little cabin volume, but support and fold just as a full-sized hatchback's might.

Honda allows EV-N owners to customise their cars by offering interchangeable upholstery panels in different colours.

The Honda 50 step-through will also gain an electric version at Tokyo, while Honda will also be showing its CR-Z hybrid sports car, which wowed crowds at last month's Frankfurt car show. Tokyo will also mark the debut of the Skydeck concept, a 6-seater hybrid MPV with the hybrid system components housed in the car's centre tunnel rather than behind the rear seats or under the floor.