As part of Dezeen‘s Future Mobility Competition sponsored by electric vehicle company Arrival, designers Lea Haats, Erik Mantz-Hansen and Konstantin Wolf have envisioned a sleek and modern electric tram system that is made to operate on unused rails.
The electric tram system, called Abacus, is designed to take advantage of pre-existing rail infrastructure. By using Abacus, mobility is improved, traffic is reduced, and the reliance on fossil fuel vehicles is limited.
To ride the Abacus, passengers simply wave at the tram to get it to halt. Abacus is able to detect and automatically halt thanks to its onboard cameras with pattern recognition.
In regards to power, Abacus will use induction via rail tracks. In doing so, large batteries are not required and the weight of the tram itself will be lighter.
“For the Abacus concept, it was crucial that the new track could be used flexibly and reliably enough to keep up with the comfort of the private car,” says the designer trio. “Therefore, the travel distance is concentrated on a relatively short track, so that any point on the route can be reached by the tram in a few minutes.”
All images in this article are courtesy of Dezeen.
