The Basque industrial consortium that developed Hikiko is composed of AFYPAIDA (Alava Association for the Development and Promotion of Industrial and Athletic Activities); DENOKINN (Basque Center for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and New Business Development); and the automotive company Epsilon Euskadi, which coordinates the project and is responsible for its engineering.

Hiriko is an urban vehicle designed for large cities that has in-wheel drive motors. This two-seat electric car is 2.5 meters in length and can shrink to only 1.5 meters when parking; further it is highly maneuverable and has a zero-turn radius. Categorized as a quadracycle, no license will be necessary to drive it. The car will be able to reach its top speed of 50km per hour in only three seconds.

The car can be driven with a joystick or an electric steering wheel. It will have a range of 120km, recharge in only twelve minutes, and be capable of climbing 20% slopes. The trunk will have a capacity of 300 liters.

The first robotic model was shown at Campus Party Europe 2010, which took place in Madrid’s Caja Mágica. MIT has been working on the car’s design for the past six years, while the Basque industrial group is working out of the technology Park of Álava to build the first prototype. Commercial production will begin at the end of 2012.

The Hiriko will be built by modules, and therefore no assembly line will be necessary. Almost all of the car’s components are manufactured by Basque industry, for later assembly in distribution centers around the world.