Compact, 'green' and neighborhood-friendly

A new range of lightweight electric vehicles catches the fancy of senior citizens and food delivery brigade alike

The three yellow cute four-wheelers parked outside the Beijing's Crayfish Master restaurant, a seafood eatery near the Worker's Stadium, are too striking to be missed. The electric vehicles or EVs, which were launched last year, do not have any registration number plates, and are a common sight these days on the capital's lanes and pavements, if not the main roads.

The three-outlet Crayfish Master uses nine such EVs to deliver meals to customers within a three kilometer radius of each of its restaurants. "They are environment-friendly and make faster rides possible for our deliverymen," said the restaurant chain's marketing manager Qiu, who goes only by her surname. "Plus they look cool."