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The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range

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Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range

#191

Post by fulafel »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #176
lm28469 wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can own multiple pair of shoes, and even have one stay at the office, same for pants. I do it and I don't feel like I'm having a miserable existence But fuck it, let's buy a car and fuck the planet, that's much more convenient, god forbid we sweat or touch the rain, oh the horror !

> You can own multiple pair of shoes, and even have one stay at the office, same for pants. This hints at another counterpoint: it's not just yourself you have to protect from elements, but also whatever it is you want to transport with you. Like those extra shoes. Or electronics. Or groceries. Etc. Waterproof bags probably exist, but I can't say I've seen them available, or used, by anyone at all.

Waterproof bike panniers are pretty standard.

Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range

#192

Post by genezeta »

highwaylights wrote: post #4
rwmj wrote: post #3

If this was half the price, say £3,500, I'd probably get one. The price seems wildly out of line with what you get. Also I wonder about modding - larger battery, a roof rack and a bright orange paint job to compensate for lack of safety features.

It would probably cost close to that range just for the battery, but it begs the question who this is for. If your budget is £7k there are plenty of used options around that would involve sacrificing much less than this for about double the range (thinking early Leaf/Zoe/Ion). It’s neat, but it reminds me of the Twizy. Just too many compromises to still make sense.

> who this is for

I've seen a few of these around my city. Also Twizy's and a bunch of 50cc ICE cars that you can drive with a moped licence.

From my admittedly anecdotal information, it's mostly -90%- "rich kids". I mean, I don't know if they are rich, obviously, but they are teenagers in at least nice areas. I've even seen some of them around the tiny cars using them as a bit of status item.

They don't need to carry much luggage, they don't need to carry more than 1 lucky friend / love interest, and they don't need to go very far or that many places.

Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range

#193

Post by sorenjan »

This type of "car" is quite popular in Sweden. You might think that such a cheap "toy car" would be for people with low income, but they're quite popular among teenagers younger than 18 (age limit for car driving license) in affluent neighborhoods.

We also have a different class of "car", an "A-traktor". They're usually normal cars that have had their top speed limited to 30 km/h among with some other modifications, and are classed as tractors. They used to need a flatbed necessitating a more extensive rebuild, bud that changed a while ago so now we have Volvo V70 and Porsche Cayennes (and a Scania 164 Topline V8) with 15 year olds as drivers.

https://www.thelocal.se/20211021/why-do-swedish-teenagers-dr...

Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range

#194

Post by kube-system »

gtirloni wrote: post #166
kube-system wrote: post #84

Calling these "cars" is clickbait to make these sound novel. But, NEVs like this (and even better than this) have been around for decades. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighborhood_Electric_Vehicle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadricycle_(EU_vehicle_classi... Part of the reason they are so cheap is that they are legally not cars, and therefore are exempt from many regulations that make cars expensive.

*> exempt from many regulations that make cars expensive. Which I never understood. If you're driving in the middle of the road, why does it matter if it's a NEV or a 18-wheeler? I think the same rules should apply. That NEV can be rear-ended by a regular car at 80km/h and the car driver will be fine with their airbags and whatnot while the NEV driver is probably dead.

The idea is that they're not intended to be used in most vehicle traffic. Their intended purpose is more like the way people use golf carts in the US. And often, they fall under the same or similar regulations. If you look at the spec sheets, really the main difference between these and a golf cart are the doors.

There's nothing wrong with that, if that's what you need. But it ain't a car, at least not for people in North America.

Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range

#195

Post by nayuki »

ginko wrote: post #137
peoplefromibiza wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you wanna have a conversation, please try at least to understand a few simple concepts. A bullet weights 50 grams. Would you prefer to be hit by a bike or a bullet?

A bullet has more kinetic energy because it's significantly faster than a bike. But a bike is actually slower than a car, even an Ami so I don't understand what argument you're trying to make here. Cars kill people every. single. day. All the traffic rules had to be created just because how dangerous and deadly cars are.

> A bullet has more kinetic energy because it's significantly faster than a bike

Confirmed. Kinetic energy is E = 1/2 m v^2.

A bullet might have v = 1000 m/s, m = 0.01 kg, E = 5000 J.

A bicycle with rider might have v = 5 m/s, m = 100 kg, E = 1250 J.

Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range

#196

Post by moonchrome »

dghlsakjg wrote: post #177
moonchrome wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry but that's delusional - riding in the rain, and especially when it's snowy/icy - is order of magnitude more dangerous - traction/breaking/reduced visibility.

Have you tried, or are you just speculating about me being delusional? As I said in my comment, I actually do this, and surprised myself with how practical it is in all but the absolute worse weather (there are about 7 days per year where my bike won’t work, but generally that means that it is dangerous driving conditions as well). I live in rural Canada. I’m no stranger to riding in snow, rain and darkness. I could…

I used to own a motorcycle and I commute with a bycicle in ~mediteranian climate.

The only two accidents I've ever had on a motorcycle were low speed manuvers in heavy rain when I got caught by a shower.

On a bike just riding on a slippery road is terrible and wading through umbrellas, getting splashed by cars in traffic, rain in the eyes.

Riding on two wheels makes you extremely exposed - ebikes are just shit motorcycles (especially self built ones) and have a higher accident rate statistics from what I can tell.

If you're not aware how risky it is compared to a car you are you are being delusional.

Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range

#197

Post by lm28469 »

lttlrck wrote: post #172
lm28469 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, reason #1 we're fucked, people became absolute cry babies about anythign resembling physical effort or inconvenience. They'd burn the planet twice over rather than move their asses anywhere else other than in a 3 tonne climatized metal cage

Calling them cry babies is really not helpful. Considering we spend most of our lives trying to increase the standard of living for ourselves and for others it's not all that surprising people resist reducing it, is it?

Is it "increase the standard of living " when it decreases your life expectancy, physical shape, made the city unliveable for pedestrians, potentially fuck up the climate for the next few hundred years, &c ?

At some point we have to look in the mirror and make choices for ourselves, and yes, lots of people became absolutely pathetic excuse of human beings, if you can't stand the rain I'm sorry but you definitely are a cry baby.

What's the end goal of this pursuit of "quality of life" ? Living in a matrix style pod, being fed food through your veins while being sedated and transported into the metaverse ?

If you can't imagine a world without cars and the idea of using a bike repulses you because "rain" you're the problem, or at least a very big part of it

Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range

#198

Post by naijaboiler »

Milo0841 wrote: post #188

Any "neighborhood" car in the U.S. needs decent acceleration and a top speed of 45 mph to work in traffic. Even when the speed limit is 30 mph you'll need to speed up to pass a turning vehicle or to avoid a pedestrian. Anything less just isn't safe for everyone involved. I'm OK with small size, limited range and even the lack of safety features in my sedate neighborhood where I know the streets, potholes and driving…

this is a golf cart pretending to be a car.

Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range

#199

Post by naijaboiler »

ahoy wrote: post #143
rdl wrote: post #76

The NEV category (basically golf cart) make sense in specific neighborhoods -- not in dense cities (where they're still too big), not in really long distance rural settings (although a Gator/UTV or something on your own property can be awesome), but in the right kind of suburban/resort/etc. community, amazing. I am not a big fan of bicycle/moped/motorcycle because I usually want more stuff with me if I'm not just goi…

You'd be surprised what you can get on a bicycle with just a rear rack and a bag. It does require a bit more planning ahead, which I'll admit can be annoying.

I still feel safer in a golf cart than on a bike

Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range

#200

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #181
iancmceachern wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an American visiting Paris and have noticed many folks on scooters and ebikes have these skirts that are fabric covers that cover the bike seat and also the legs of the rider when they ride. They also have these mitten like things that attach to the handles that allow you to operate the bike but also protect your hands from the elements. Between those two things, and a decent rain jacket (which you need anyway) i…

Have you seen any solution they're using for transporting things , like groceries or computers or extra clothes?

Yes - a bike cargo rack.

You have a waterproof bag that attaches to it. Problem completely solved.

It rains quite a bit in Netherlands, and it's the biking capital of the world.

It's almost as if rain isn't really that big of a deal.

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