Are you familiar with the Fridolin? If so, hit the jump. If not, here’s the brief version of its history. Unhappy with its adorable but inadequate, two-cylinder Goggomobil Transporters, the German Postal Service approached Volkswagen and Westfalia in the early 60s, looking for a new interpretation of what it was looking for, namely “arbeitspsychologisch optimaler Ausstattung zu einem günstigen Anschaffungspreis.” This is a tough phrase to translate, but essentially it means “equipment optimized for the workplace psychology, at an affordable price,” and in 1963 that’s what the VW-Westalia team delivered. A mixture of Type 1 (Beetle), Type 2 (Bus) and Type 3 (Fastback/Squareback), the Type 147 was first shown to the German Post in 1963, and was quickly nicknamed “Fridolin” (an uncommon German boy’s name) apparently because workers said “it looks like a Fridolin.” Only 6,126 were built between 1964 and 1973, and they continue to enjoy a strong collector’s cachet (primarily as slammed campers, apparently). And now, Volkswagen wants to re-create the classic… for the future.
Based on a subcompact Polo-sized platform, VW’s eT Concept manages to offer nearly 144 cubic feet of storage. And because it’s aimed at the green-conscious postman of tomorrow (not to mention stop-start driving on fixed routes), it’s a purely electric concept with a 60-mile range and a 70 MPH top speed. Think of the performance as “optimized for the workplace psychology.” Speaking of which, one of the coolest features of the new concept is that it can actually be driven at speeds up to 6 km/h from the passenger seat, using something called the “drive stick.” The thing can even back itself up by remote control, using bumper-mounted sensors to avoid obstacles or stop itself. There’s no word on how soon this research vehicle will make its way into production, but because it was developed in partnership with the German Postal Service, some of its gizmology should filter into German postal vehicles. And with a very similar VW “Bulli” coming to market in 2015, not only could this actual vehicle be made, there may even be a civilian sliding-door version as well.
“… manages to offer nearly 13.5 cubic feet of storage.”
Hm. Is that a lot? It doesn’t seem like a lot for a box on wheels, even a little one.
13.5 cu ft seems really small, even for a small van. Maybe that was supposed to be 13.5 cu meters?
That was my thought too, until I discovered that 13.5 cubic meters would be 476 cubic feet, which would make this the most space-efficient vehicle ever designed.
The other possible explanation is that the van is rear-engined, and all the cargo space is in the nose.
Or the 13.5 number is wrong.
Sorry, that should be 144 cubic feet off of a 16-foot long vehicle.
they need to make a camper version with an ICE.
Nested sliding doors. Nice.
Kind of a day late and a dollar short given the decline of snail mail at least in the US. I suspect it’s even more in decline in Europe.
What about the milkman?
The Milkmen went extinct because of all the child support they had to pay.
I gotta tweet that.
That reminds me of one of my childhood memories. The milkman had a horse and wagon. He would take his basket with the bottles of milk to put them in customer’s milk boxes. He would visit several houses, then return to the curb, where the wagon would be perfectly aligned with his path. Self driving (by his assistant the horse). Then, he got a nice shiny truck. It couldn’t do this trick, and the milkman’s task took twice as long. The service disappeared soon after that. Perhaps VW can re-invent the self-driving delivery van.
My house still has a milk box. It is unused. Maybe if this goes full circle it will get used again.
I’ve seen Grumman bodied postal truck based EV testing in my neighborhood. Interestingly, it doesn’t have any kind of license plates, just “test vehicle” signs. They’re doing some start/stop testing. My guess is that it’s one of Azure Dynamics’ test mules since Azure is about a half mile from my house. They supply Ford with its EVs like the electric Transit Connect.
http://www.azuredynamics.com/
Old Grumman Olson postal van was built on a modified Ranger chassis…
Not a Ranger, VW Rabbit
I usually don’t worry too much about typos unless they’re pertinent: Goggomobil, not Goggomobile.
Did you know that you can buy replicas of Goggomobils and other microcars?
http://www.modernmicrocars.co.uk/prices.html
Yup. I learned about Andy Carter’s work via the Register of Unusual Microcars. It’s a small world.
http://rumcars.org
Parked my Smart ForTwo next to a pristine Goggomobil at the golf club recently and had to laugh; that little four passenger coupe could have easily fit inside the envelope of my car!!
I do like the look of this thing a lot. If produced, it will be among the 5% most aesthetic personal-sized vehicles on the road, and it will do much to beautify the streets of America, which are so ugly now, because most cars are ugly.
If there’s no more postal mail left, maybe they can use a photo of these for the mail icon on your computer and your iPhone.
Cost of this thing is the question. Small series production of an application-specific design is not going to be understood at the time when Germans have Italy to bail out.
Hmm – a modern Tjorven? A local junkyard has one as an advertisement parked on a ledge beside the highway – it’s apparently an electric vehicle, too, unlike the majority of examples which had DAF running gear.
Given VW’s successes with electrical systems and with minivans, an EV minivan is the perfect consolidation of VW’s weaknesses into one vehicle.
>>end sarcastic rant<<
Seriously, why is this better than a Ford Transit Connect, or any number of little box vehicles out there? This thing will cost a fortune.
All electric. Specific interior. And passenger-side controls so the driver does not need to walk around in order to move 50m to the next house.
VW has the Caddy (Transit Connect competitor) in Europe, but clearly that’s not what Deutsche Post is looking for.
Chrysler built the Routan not VW. It was a rebadged Town & Country
Nice that they used the front end styling of the “New Bus” concept car…
http://www.vanagon.com/static/img/old/media/concept/new_bus_front.jpg