Embracing Constraints: Redesigning the City Car to Actually Fit City Driving

The first family of micromobility: Merlin, Janine, Wim, and Oliver next to the Microlino. Images courtesy of Microlino.

The Zurich-based family behind the Microlino set out to answer a vexing question: How much car do you really need in a city?

Their research on European hubs shows that most people drive a daily distance of 35km (22 miles) at a speed of 30km (19 mph) and just a single person occupies a car. That means most cars are not designed for 95% of their use case. So the Ouboters redesigned the city car to fit reality and reduced it to the max. (Big enough for two people and three crates of beer.) It’s “short but not too big around,” as Roger Miller sings in “King of the Road.”

The Ouboters aren’t just any family. Wim Ouboter, the father, hatched the original idea for the kickscooter (what became the Razor). Today, his sons Merlin and Oliver have taken the idea of micromobility and put it in car form. The Microlino is a battery-operated bubble car with 50% of the parts of most cars and a max speed of 90km (55 mph). Technically, it’s not even a car, but rather the highest category of motorcycle, with four wheels.

Though the Microlino won’t go into production until summer, there is already a waiting list—more than 20,000 reservations for the $12,000 Euros ($14,300 USD) vehicle. The biggest markets are Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, but you can also order one if you live in New York, California, even Texas. Here, Merlin discusses how they created something within tight constraints, why they put the door on the front of the car and removed half the traditional parts, and lessons learned from redesigning something daunting.

The Microlino design builds on a rare model from 70 years ago. Tell us about the precedent.

In our research, we stumbled across bubble cars from the 1950s. They were quirky cars and still look futuristic, even though they are now quite old. After World War II, people couldn’t afford bigger cars, so the micro-car design is partly for that reason. BMW ultimately bought the license to the Isetta and produced it for the masses. (Editor’s Note: BMW stopped producing the model in the 1960s.)

Never worry about parallel parking again! Three Microlinos can fit into one regular parking space.

As you revitalize the original concept, you’ve had to work within a certain set of constraints. What are those, and how did they impact what you built?

We have structural limitations because of how the Microlino is classified. It can’t weigh more than 450kg (992 pounds), has a max width of 1.5 meters (5 feet) and has a net power of 15kWh. 

The weight of a car makes a huge difference in the energy consumption. The battery of an Audi e-tron weighs more than the entire Microlino, including two passengers and luggage. But more than that, it shows how nuts it is that we drive around with such heavy vehicles and continuously use so much energy. 

Our biggest battery has a capacity of 14.4 kWh, which is nothing compared to a Tesla, with it’s 100 kWh battery. This makes a difference because with those 14.4 kilowatt hours, the Microlino can travel up to 200 km (125 miles). Working within the set boundaries, we found a way to design a car that uses less energy than most cars, but still has enough power to get you around the city as you need.

Why did you put the side door on the front of the car?

It’s functional. By putting the door on the front of the car, you can cross park three Microlinos next to each other. Each uses one-third of a normal parking space. People ask us if there should even be any cars in cities. We think that you can’t deny the fact that cars are still an important mode of transport in most cities. We just want to downsize the amount of space they take up.

You also removed the speaker system and replaced it with an iPhone dock.

We rethought the whole usability aspect of the Microlino’s interior: What do people really need? What do they really want? And what is the cost factor? We can’t integrate the nicest speaker system like in an Audi or Porsche because we would have to pass those costs on to the customers.

Second, why integrate something when drivers already own the best speakers on the market and can integrate them with the car via Bluetooth? We centered a lot of the interior designs around the smartphone. We don’t have a navigation system because you already have that on your phone.

The two-person seating arrangement is like sitting next to someone on a bench—no middle console. Why did you decide to do that?

Having two people sit next to each other is important for us because most small cars in the same category have people sit one behind the other. That’s a motorcycle feeling, and we want the Microlino to feel like a car. By designing the seats like a bench, it saves a lot of interior space. I'm personally a big fan of the bench. If you're sitting alone in the car, you can scoot over and you have more space.

On the road again. The Microlino in action. Video: Electric Drive.

What’s a challenge that you didn’t see coming?

In Germany, the biggest car market in Europe, there is a subsidy that gives you up to $9,000 Euros cash back if you buy an electric car. Because we are not classified as a car, we can’t offer any kind of incentive for customers to buy this more environmentally-friendly car. It’s funny that an electric SUV weighing two-and-a-half tons gets an environment bonus, but a very light, electric, space-saving vehicle gets nothing. Even without subsidies, we are still finding customers.

A car seems like a daunting thing to redesign. What lessons can you pass on to others who are trying to rethink the status quo?

As an outsider you have the advantage that you are not biased by the status quo and come up with ideas that may seem impossible for insiders. Experiment and try your ideas out in the field because on paper everything works, but the real world often offers challenges that you couldn’t have thought of.

Find partners and collaborators; you will need their support more than you might think in the beginning. Last but not least do not mix friendship with business, only business with friendship. 

How does your family bounce ideas off one another? And do you follow any rituals around it?

Every Sunday we have dinner at our parents’ house, which is our ritual and also where the magic happens. After a few glasses of wine we discuss new projects, ideas and challenge each other. You need to have a sparring partner that can give you a second opinion on your ideas and dares to disagree with you.

What has your dad taught you about inventing? 

Most people don’t know that he was bad in school due to his dyslexia, but that was always his biggest strength because he was never afraid to make mistakes. That's a great skill.

He is the greatest motivator I know. That leads people to give their absolute best and outgrow themselves. He always surrounds himself with people who are smarter or better than him in a field because you can’t be a jack of all trades.