Personal Powered Transport

There are a few modes of transport you can always count on – cars, bikes, buses, trains – that sort of thing. But looking to disrupt these mainstays is a regular assortment of more imaginative options. Here are the wackiest of the 2019 crop.

Pedal-powered paddle boat (pedalo) designs tends to swing between cutesy kitsch and blandly pragmatic, which is why Beau Lake's Runabout – a paddle boat that actually looks like a boat – is the most ironically out-there thing to happen to these little leisure craft to date.

Immotor, a California startup founded by Mophie founder Daniel Huang, offers a stylish, new urban transport solution. Its folding electric Go scooter rolls for up to 20 miles (32 km) around city centers and includes a versatile Super Battery system.

The Estonian-designed Stigo electric scooter has a top speed of 25 km/h (15 mph) and a range of up to 40 km (25 miles) per charge, and is folded up and ready to roll in just two seconds.

Combining aspects of a Segway, a skateboard and a balance board, the S-Walker Board is a two-wheeled electric vehicle making its world premiere at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show. It is set to hit the streets in the not-too-distant future.

The ongoing development of vehicles offering two modes of transport was a key trend evident at Auto China last week. Personal transportation needs are changing and Geely and BMW are the latest to demonstrate cars with inclusive last-mile transport.

Very little is known about this "single person transport system" concept dreamed up by the enigmatically-named product design student Sanu K R from Ernakulam on India's west coast, but one thing is clear: it's a head-turner.

The 25 kph (15.5 mph) electric assist Voltitude begins volume production in July with an on-line price expected in the vicinity of EUR4000. It folds and unfolds inside one second.

Mohamad Sadegh Samakoush Darounkolayi's entry into this year's Michelin Design Challenge is an automated, self-balancing personal transport chair balanced on an omnidirectional ball with a touchscreen control console.

On January 29, 1886, Karl Benz filed a Patent No. 37435 at the Reich Patent Office in Berlin – it is generally regarded as the birth certificate of the automobile and became the first of over 80,000 patents awarded to the Mercedes Benz marque. Happy birthday to the automobile and to the Mercedes Ben

Peter Treadway sees the future of personal mobility as a motorized attachment to existing footwear that will allow for normal walking, cycling and driving but offer a short-range burst of wheeled propulsion when required

Looking like the next evolutionary step for Zorbing, the Buzzball is a giant sphere controlled from a motorized inner pod that lets the pilot shift momentum and change direction. Hold on to your lunch!