Electric cars are taking off, as seen with this collection of electric concept cars at the Tokyo Auto Show:

The cars come in all shapes and sizes, but here is one that is following what appears to be a unique path:

F1 designer unveils electric car

This is the T27. It is intended as a “city car” with a top speed of 60 MPH and a range of 100 miles. It has a number of innovative features designed to cut costs and weight, but two of the most important are these:

1) It contains few (no?) stamped metal parts. If you go to a traditional auto factory, the stamping presses are huge and incredibly expensive, as are the stamping dies. By doing away with them, the manufacturing process is simplified. In the following video, you get a sense of the size of a stamping press:

Instead of stamping the parts, “All the parts are designed by computer and welded together rather than being stamped out of metal sheets.”

2) The car is very light without compromising safety:

Its predecessor, the T.25, weighs 600kg – half the weight of an average small family car.

“Cars don’t tend to be heavy because of safety; they tend to be heavy because of luxury,” added Mr Bott.

“The tubular frame of the T.27 is designed to absorb energy. It will pass all the relevant safety tests.”

If this works out, it could mean that perhaps many smaller car manufqacturers could sprout up to build electric cars.