BMW’s Designworks creates wonder EV for ClubCar

Thoughts on Apple Car, Part 164

Who would have thought that the most exciting electric vehicle launch comes from ClubCar, the company behind most golf carts out there? Who would have thought that this new design was helped being created by the BMW Group design studio, which is also doing outside work – apparently with a better job than for BMW’s own brands?

Well, it happened. CRU is an NEV meant to cover everything you need getting around in your neighbourhood. An easy, light and friendly vehicle you can hop on and off from quickly. Minimal protection from rain and wind because it’s meant to drive slowly (up to 35 mph) and in sunny Florida conditions. Most importantly though, the people behind it have answered one key question for designing EVs that someday will drive themselves: What does the experience look like when the car doesn’t drive you but when you want stop anywhere to have a good time?

Stop Motion.

We all know that a typical car sits idle 96% of the time. And we know the sight of people cramming in their front seats with take out food, trying to have a meal in their cars. Ugly.

What CRU does is it turns into a living room with a roof. Much like a better tent, a little like glamping (glamorous camping) anywhere you like.

Of course, there’s the awkward safety belt tangling around, but overall it looks like a simple experience:

One thing the designers got right is that the seating area opens to one side only, the curb side. The other side, which in most countries faces the street, is shielded by the back of the bench that wraps around the little table of the car.

The front seats can be turned into back seats in a smart industrial design that I have never seen implemented so simply:

Neil Cybart has long said that innovation in future cars will be found in seating. I agree.

Seating becomes more important to the experience when you are more aware of it because you’re not driving yourself anymore, and not focused on the road. Seating then turns into an experience driver much like in your living room, at your dinner table, your office, or in restaurants.

It happens to become more important when you’re not on the move. This is what CRU shows: A car design that is built for resting somewhere, not only driving there. Making a stop, having a picnic, meeting friends – but it can also be working, studying, creating, and other activities.

Of course, the overall design is not breathtaking. That’s someone else’s specialty. It is a long vehicle, and you can argue that a third of it – the front – is obsolete as soon as it’s selfdriving. The roof could be higher, so you can stand up. But overall it’s an interesting concept that is actually coming to market and will probably sell well.