Paris Motor Show: City Transformer CT-1 Presented

• by Martin Punter
• October 20, 2022
• 3 min read

Israel start-up, City Transformer, has just presented an ultra-compact electric car at this year’s Paris Motor Show. The vehicle is one metre wide and is being described as the city car of the future.

The future is ultra-compact © Credit to City Transformer

There’s compact EVs and then there’s City Transformer’s CT-1 compact EV, a vehicle that promises a large list of features in short order.

The vehicle itself has been in development for quite some time, with us only hearing more about it now thanks to the Paris Motor Show where the vehicle is currently on display.

“Paris is one of the world’s great metropolises. Like so many other cities around the world, Paris continues to evolve as a fantastic space that people call home. However, in recent years it’s been easy to lose sight of the fact that urban areas have been created for people first and people foremost.”
— Udi Meridor, COO of City Transformer

Designed to meet the needs of the urban population with Paris being a prime mega city example, the CT-1 is a two-seat, four-wheeled, all-electric intelligent microcar.

What makes this ultra compact car so smart is that it can transform its size on the road in real-time (one of the CT-1’s signature moves).

“The CT-1 is far easier to maintain on a day-to-day basis compared to conventional automobiles and represents a far safer solution compared to two-wheel applications,” says Udi Meridor, Chief Operating Officer of City Transformer.

“Loss of time, loss of productivity, health problems, environmental damage – the list of negative effects of inner-city traffic chaos is overwhelming,” they continue.

“But these challenges have helped to inspire the City Transformer team to develop a unique mobility solution specifically for the urban environment that makes daily transport leaner, cleaner and far more efficient.”

The compact two-seater has been designed so that it can reduce its track width from 1.4 metres to one metre to allow it to manoeuvre into the smallest parking spaces across the urban environment.

This unique wheelbase transformation also takes place on the road in real time to outsmart traffic and congestion flow.

the CT-1 has a top speed of 90km/h; when at a one-meter width (in city mode), speed is capped to 45km/h. The CT-1 measures 2,500mm in length and has an optimized wheelbase of 1,800mm.

Tests have shown that the all-electric microcar is much safer than scooters and e-bikes.

As such, the CT-1 combines the advantages of a motorcycle with those of a car to create a unique overall mobility solution, without the inherent design-related disadvantages of more traditional polluting vehicles that currently make up the urban mobility landscape.

Parking and navigating a city could be forever changed should the CT-1 make true on its promise. Would you be interested in this urban commuter? That’s the question.

Martin Punter

View All Posts >