"Light Sports Automotive"

[Fumesucker]

1. A tilting tadpole trike would be my preference

A somewhat larger and heavier powered version of this. Electric would be the way to go for a shortish range low speed commuter vehicle. Fairly lightweight electric systems are just now becoming available with sporting performance in a small vehicle, they will only get better, more torque, less weight, higher efficiency.

You can make a tilting vehicle a lot more narrow than one with similar cornering ability that doesn't tilt. In dense traffic narrow is a huge advantage, ask any European or California motorcycle rider. Also on a tilting vehicle lateral wheel rigidity isn't nearly as important so wheel weight can be kept low.