One of the major contributors to poor gas mileage is the heavy weight of many conventional cars. Even the lightest cars, such as the Mazda Miata, weigh over a ton. This makes converting a conventional car to electric power especially daunting, as many available electric motors simply don’t make as much power as petrol engines. While you can slap a supercharger on a low-displacement petrol engine, there is no such easy fix for electric cars.

Tokyo-based Teijin has unveiled a lightweight electric city vehicle made from composite materials. So is this just a pipe dream project, or something that might one day see production?

Called the PU_PA EV, as in the process of metamorphosis for bugs, this vehicle likely seems like a first try rather than something ready for the road. It tackles the problem of weight by using composite materials like carbon fiber and windows made from a polycarbonate resin that weigh half as much as regular glass. It all adds up to a vehicle the tops the scales at just 437 kilograms (about 960 pounds). There are only 20 body parts to the whole vehicle as a result of a modularized design.

The lightweight of the PU_PA allows its electric motor to achieve a maximum velocity of...37 mph. So not exactly a highway cruiser, but the perfect speed for a city vehicle. It can go about 100 km, or 62 miles on a single charge. Not bad for the odd looking little PU_PA, though I wouldn’t expect it to ever make it beyond concept form. But maybe other automakers will get the hint, and we’ll move away from heavy land yachts and back to something simpler and lighter.

Reprinted with permission from Gas 2.0