The switch to electric vehicles comes with many challenges: one yet to be properly met is accessibility. So is there a design solution for wheelchair users?
Imagine buying a new car and being told that you must travel in the luggage area. Not because the technology doesn’t exist to have you up-front, but because the vehicle has been engineered in a way that makes your comfort and inclusion inconvenient. No view of the road ahead, no conversation with the driver. Just straps, restraints and a position at the back, physically and socially removed from everyone else.
Most people would find this unacceptable. Yet for many wheelchair users, this is precisely what the electric vehicle (EV) transition is delivering.
For decades, wheelchair-accessible vehicles (WAVs) with petrol or diesel engines have enabled users to travel alongside family and friends or as the driver themselves within the vehicle cabin, rather than being confined to the extreme rear. That accessibility was not accidental but...