Project X is a tiny EV with swappable Gogoro batteries

Don’t give up on the dream of a small electric car just yet. At the Japan Mobility Show 2023, there’s a tiny car designed for city driving and powered by Gogoro scooter batteries that owners can swap out and drive away without waiting around at a typical EV charging station.

The car is called Project X (for now) and is built by the Mobility in Harmony Consortium (MIH), which is led by manufacturing conglomerate Foxconn. The vehicle is short in length, stubby, and looks like a cute toy but not too far off from a Smart Fortwo. However, Project X can fit a third person in the back. The space where a fourth seat could have gone is taken up by two angled Gogoro battery back slots for easy insertion and removal.

MIH says Project X also has driverless robotaxi capabilities and features sliding doors for easy passenger entry and exit. There’s no mention of availability or how far it’ll go on one fresh set of batteries, but Gogoro’s two-battery scooter goes about 105 miles — so expect the Project X to get less range.

As Electrek points out, many fans of Gogoro scooters often wonder why the batteries can’t power a full-on car. There’s no doubt a need for smaller urban EVs that don’t clog up street parking, even if those asking for it are possibly a vocal minority.

Project X could perhaps rejuvenate the segment of small electric vehicles in a world where it seems every automaker is focused on building bulky crossovers with big batteries. And there’s certainly a benefit to having a car that can zip around all the food delivery SUVs that clog up the middle of a one-way city street with their park-anywhere lights flashing.