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If the scale model at the Science Museum in London wasn't enough for you, you can get a life-size view of the Nissan Pivo 2 in the UK this weekend (and continuing through June 1). This quirky, all-electric vehicle first crossed our screens at last year's Tokyo Motor Show and you might remember that the unique rotating cab design means there is no reverse gear on the lithium-ion battery-powered car. The Pivo 2 will be part of the Science of Survival exhibit at the Science Museum. We're not sure how the Pivo 2 will be displayed, but Nissan's announcement says the UK public will get "to see the Pivo in action." Whee, rotating cab moves for everyone! Alongside the Pivo 2 will be the Toilet-lid Sink, the Q-drum, and the Eglu Chicken House, so we can see the fantastic sustainable future we're moving toward.

As part of "The Science of Survival – Your Planet Needs You!" five-year traveling exhibition, London's Science Museum will feature a scale model of Nissan unique Pivo concept, first shown at the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show. The Pivo electric car is powered by lithium ion batteries and is capable of crab-walking its way into tight parking spots due to its 90-degree rotating wheels. The Pivo also eliminates the need for a reverse gear, as its cabin is capable of rotating to face in either direction. In-wheel electric motors can spin forward or reverse, offering nearly unlimited maneuverability. The machine looks pretty strange, so we can't really imagine seeing it on the road any time soon, which is fitting because the museum's display is supposed to reflect how environmental changes could effect our lives in the year 2050.

Nissan is co-sponsoring this display, which is a compliment to the Nissan Green Program 2010.

[Source: Nissan]

My favorite concept car at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show is Toyota's I-Real, a chair concept car, so I dug around for some videos of the thing moving around. You can watch videos of the I-Real and iSwing, another concept chair vehicle by Toyota, in action below the fold. I also found another video of the of Nissan's Pivo 2 robot, a worm-headed thing that watches how you feel and goes crazy if you are sad. If you don't cheer up, it won't let you out of the car saying "I am afraid I can't do that, Dave." Wait, maybe that was from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey?

[Source: YouTube]

We just wrote about Nissan's new electric concept car Pivo 2. Below is a gallery with a few more pictures of the new R2D2-like robot companion (above) for Pivo 2. Below the fold, are two videos all about the design of the Pivo 2 and two videos about Pivo 1 which had monitors inside the car that augmented your view of the outside world. The monitors seem to be missing in Pivo 2 and I am not sure an in-car robot distraction is such a good idea. Maybe I will grow to like the little guy when we see more of him at the Tokyo Motor Show, starting October 27.

[Source: Nissan]

At the Tokyo Motor Show later this month, Nissan will be showing off this updated version of the Pivo electric concept that they displayed two years ago in Tokyo. Like the original, this lithium ion-powered commuter eliminates the need for a reverse gear by having the entire cabin swivel around on the platform. Of course making this kind of system work means all the controls are of the by-wire type. Propulsion and braking are both performed by wheel motors which can also swivel ninety degrees allowing for crab like parallel parking. If you're in Tokyo next week, the Pivo 2 will be on display in the Nissan Ginza Gallery ahead of the motor show. Details are in the press release after the jump.

[Source: Nissan]