Shell designs city car that consumers a third less energy

Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell has developed a city concept car that consumes one-third lower energy than the average car at 107 miles per gallon.

The tiny car is only 1.5 metre high, 2.5 metre long and 1.3 metre wide. Its compact size also takes the pain out of parking in the city.

Shell has taken a radically different approach to energy efficiency by designing the vehicle that it claimed "is intended to inspire thinking about maximising personal mobility, while minimising energy use."

A unique feature to this futuristic car, are the doors that open out, and when riders need to get inside they have to pull the top up and climb in.

It has a maximum speed of 110 kilometers per hour, but offers a dream ride at 50 to 70 kilometers per hour.

The car topped on the emissions front too giving off a quarter fewer CO2 emissions than the average hybrid cars.

Thanks to the low-cost, recycled carbon fibre, Shell used for the car's body, the vehicle weighs only 550 kilograms. Also the energy used to manufacture it is 45 per cent less than any city car needed.

But the car owes part of its energy efficiency due to Shell's specially designed lubricating engine oil.

''You could build this car and drive it for around 100,000 kilometers before consuming the same energy it takes to make a typical SUV,'' Mashable quoted engineer Shell's Technology Manager for Innovation, Bob Mainwaring, who is leading the project.

Its compact size and cockpit-style doors apart, the car also comes with cameras instead of rearview mirrors and a single windshield wiper.

Commentators say while it was commendable that Shell was thinking about energy efficiency, why oil companies did not try to use their massive wealth to branch out into, say, battery technology was intriguing.