A battery of personal mobility devices is being rolled out over next two years

THE NEW SUPERMINIS: Are you for iReal? Are these truly an alternative to old-fashioned walking, asks Michael McAleer

THE i-Real may look like something from the set of a Bond movie, transporting Dr No or his evil equivalent around his mountain bunker. However, its lineage is far more benign: it’s a glorified electric wheelchair.

Toyota has been showcasing the i-Real over the last three years or so. Since then others have followed suit. Last week Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn whizzed into the press conference at the Tokyo motor show in his company’s latest iteration of the Sinclair C5, the Nissan LandGlider.

Before you dismiss these vehicles off hand, it’s worth noting that both are likely to enter production in the next two years. It seems that now the car industry has started to play around with battery power its engineers have become fixated with applying their know-how to personal mobility transport. In other words, they want to offer an alternative to walking.

From Honda there was the UX-3, a unicycle that looked like it had been stolen from an unfortunate clown at a circus, while Toyota also revealed its Wiglet, basically a more flimsy version of the Segway. Neither of these would make any sense on public footpaths at present and would probably only single you out for abuse from passers-by.

The i-Real, however, is a far more production-ready proposition, but focussed more on the physically disabled than on urban sophisticates too lazy to walk.

To the engineers it’s known as a personal mobility assistance device: in common parlance it’s an electric wheelchair.

This time, prior to the Tokyo motor show, we finally got a chance to test it out. Admittedly we barely got to run it more than 50 metres on a carpeted meeting room, but even over that short distance our suspicions were confirmed: walking will still be preferable for those who can.

Controlled by a lever either side you push forward to go forward, and pull back to slow down. Push it either side and it can turn in a remarkably tight circle. You can opt for walking pace or a more adventurous 30km/h jaunt, in which case the i-Real squats down onto its rear wheel for better aerodynamics. It’s incredibly intuitive and easy to use, but whatever excitement you might have about driving one passes within about five seconds. At pedestrian speed you jealously stare at people walking past.

It’s not just the renewed interest in battery technology that is focussing car engineering brains on such vehicles. Japan’s population is ageing rapidly and devices like these will find homes in many houses.

The downside, of course, is that like every wheelchair, these devices don’t do stairs. Now if they could conquer that particular problem that would be an impressive feat.

What we have here are several stylish but rather functional wheelchair replacements. They are not a million miles from what Sir Clive Sinclair conceived in the 1980s and neither are they the new dawn in personal transport that some would have you believe.

In essence the i-Real is a fancy electric wheelchair and if you need one of them then this is a pretty nice one to have. For the rest of us, two fully functional legs still can’t be beat.