31–40 of 243 posts
However, that 28 MpH maximum speed is a legitimate limitation/problem, even on my under 10 mile commute, there's at least two roads that are 40 MpH (people drive 45 MpH), and I'm going to get honked at if I can barely maintain 28 MpH.
I like the price and concept... But that max speed is a deal breaker. It will be interesting to see what cost a freeway model is.
No crash protection? Almost 10k? I can get a decent used vehicle for 10k with a better top speed and crash protection. Seems like a no brainer to me to stick w/ a traditional model.
I suppose the advantage is you might not be required to have a drivers license or insurance since the vehicle might be classified like a electric scooter or something. Sort of like driving a golf cart around. I'm really surprised the Japanese mini-trucks havn't taken off in the USA. They would be great for busy city streets where parking and space could be problematic. They also don't cost very much (used 5k USD).
There was a small boom for importing them to use as farm trucks, but you can't import them until they are 25 years old if you want to drive them on the road. Most other countries have less restrictive import requirements, so they tend to go to those countries first. Not many left by the time they get to 25 years old.
No crash protection? Almost 10k? I can get a decent used vehicle for 10k with a better top speed and crash protection. Seems like a no brainer to me to stick w/ a traditional model.
I didn't say there's no crash protection on the Pickman. It's the $1000 cars sold in China that don't have them. Pretty sure that to qualify in the US and Europe, the Kaiyun car need to a minimum level of safety features.
They fill an important gap although I personally believe that electric bikes are a far better match particularly for the 16 year old kids who drive those things around.
Basically I'd feel much safer driving in the UK if Prince Philip was behind the wheel of one of these instead of the mobile tank that he drives ;)
I'd technically be in the demographic for this. I have a less than 10 mile commute. However, that 28 MpH maximum speed is a legitimate limitation/problem, even on my under 10 mile commute, there's at least two roads that are 40 MpH (people drive 45 MpH), and I'm going to get honked at if I can barely maintain 28 MpH. I like the price and concept... But that max speed is a deal breaker. It will be interesting to see w…
I'd prefer something like this for my in-city commute over the already-allowed golf cart, but not at that price point.
> but not at that price point Are they too expensive?
I wrote this article and a field guide on China's electric-car boom https://qz.com/guide/electric-cars/ . Happy to answer any questions.
Do you know if they actually make a profit on a $1000 or $9000 price, or they're just dumping their products on the market, like they did for solar panels?
I wrote this article and a field guide on China's electric-car boom https://qz.com/guide/electric-cars/ . Happy to answer any questions.
Are these road-legal in the west? If the off-road farm and construction-site applications are the only use-cases, that would seem to rather limit the impact on the market.
That means this version has some more safety features than the the base model in China, which could explain why it costs more than 3x outside China.
I wrote this article and a field guide on China's electric-car boom https://qz.com/guide/electric-cars/ . Happy to answer any questions.
Are these road-legal in the west? If the off-road farm and construction-site applications are the only use-cases, that would seem to rather limit the impact on the market.
https://www.renault.fr/vehicules/vehicules-electriques/twizy...