The secret, of course, for any traveller is to know exactly what they will be using each vehicle for and to be certain it is suitable for its intended purpose. And the Microlino might tick a few boxes. The Microlino is a L7e light electric vehicle, designed as a completely new product category somewhere between motorbikes and cars.

“We realised that with 1.2 people sitting in a car on average and a distance driven of just around 35 kilometres, modern cars are far too big for what they are actually used for,” said company co-founder, Merlin Ouboter.

The Microlino has a maximum speed of 90km/h and comes in three battery versions with a range of 91, 177 or 230 kilometres.

It needs only one third of a parking space, due to its front door, and passengers can easily get out directly onto the footpath when parked. Despite its small size, the Microlino has ample space for two passengers side-by-side.

And, with 230 litres of boot capacity, there’s plenty of space for those supermarket runs.

The design approach of using less components and saving weight also makes the Microlino much more eco-friendly than cars.

“Simply said, we need a lot less battery cells per kilometre of range than conventional electric cars, because the vehicle needs a lot less energy to be moved around,” said Mr Ouboter. “Therefore, the energy footprint for the production and usage of a Microlino is only about a third of that of a conventional electric car.”

The Microlino will be delivered in a number of European countries from next year. It has a starting price of 15,000 Euros (approximately A$23,000).

Could a micro car be a useful addition to your Big Lap set-up? Comment below.