There’s a race nowadays between companies to develop
the perfect vehicle for an electric and autonomous future, and the competition
is not restricted only to automakers. Truck and bus makers are also
part of the race and VW Group-owned Scania has an interesting vision for the
future of urban mobility. It’s called the NXT Concept and it’s a new battery
electric self-driving urban vehicle designed with a highly flexible component
in mind.
Scania believes future vehicles of this kind need to
have the flexibility to do as many activities as possible. For example, they
can ferry commuters to and from work in mornings and evenings, deliver goods
during the day, and collect refuse at night.
That’s exactly what NXT is designed for and its
party piece is the modular system which allows it to change shape for varying
urban assignments. More specifically, the front and rear drive modules can be
fitted to a bus body, a distribution truck body or a refuse collector.
The bus module is eight meters long and
weighs less than eight tonnes thanks to its construction as one
composite unit. The cylindrical cell batteries are placed under the floor,
contributing to better weight distribution while utilizing otherwise unused
space. Scania estimates the NXT self-driving bus can cover 245 kM on a single charge using present-day batteries.
We have to admit this is a very interesting idea for
optimizing transport flow in cities, with Scania proposing a holistic approach that
could reduce traffic congestion as well as make the transport of people and
goods more flexible and efficient.
