Gordon Murray Design now has an electric pod called the Motiv

When we think of Gordon Murray, our minds travel straight to performance cars. The Gordon Murray Design company just showed off its T.50 supercar in December last year — that’s one we’re excited about. Murray is also in the business of all-electric autonomous pods, though. A surprise, right? Allow us to introduce you to the Motiv.

The Motiv is officially classified as a quadricycle, and as of today, it’s designed to tote a single passenger around an urban area. Leveraging Delta Motorsport’s EV tech, it’s capable of going 62 miles on a charge and can reach a 40 mph top speed. A 26 horsepower electric motor is fed by a liquid-cooled 17.3 kWh battery pack — it can charge from 20 percent to 80 percent in 40 minutes.

Gordon Murray’s contribution comes in the form of the chassis and body. It uses an aluminum chassis, aluminum suspension and composite panels and doors. That keeps the weight “below 992 pounds.” Here’s what Murray said about the vehicle in a statement: “Motiv has the potential to transform future mobility. The best way to make any vehicle commercially viable and cost-effective, while delivering first-class efficiency, is to make it as light as it can be while retaining the highest levels of safety. With MOTIV we have used our iStream® technologies to create an ultra-lightweight body structure that delivers a vehicle that is compact, refined, safe and versatile, while remaining capable of significant range.”

That safety part is important. This little car is designed to fully comply with car crash safety requirements despite its tiny footprint — it’s 99.9 inches in length. Murray’s company also went into the autonomous aspect of this vehicle. Nothing was announced now, but the vehicle still requires all the autonomous tech from some other company that specializes in that field. Once partnered with autonomous tech providers, Murray’s company predicts a 2-5 year wait for mass production.

There is one aspect of the Motiv that reminds us of the supercar world: A gull-wing door. It’s justified by saying that it provides the easiest access for passengers and weather protection when loading/unloading goods, but it's just plain cool for a vehicle that doesn’t exude any kind of curb appeal. In case you were wondering about acceleration, GMD claims a 0-38 mph time of just 7.5 seconds. Not too shabby for a little autonomous pod.

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