If Mahindra[1] or Gayam[2] would put some doors on their electric tuktuks, they'd have this thing beat pretty handily, IMO.
[1] https://www.mahindraelectric.com/vehicles/treo-electric-auto... [2] https://gayammotorworks.com/
The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range
241–250 of 363 posts
Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range
#242It's nice to see that the Citroen Ami weighs around 500 kg. In a crash with a person/vehicle/building, it's going to do less damage than a typical sedan weighing ~1500 kg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_Ami_(electric_veh...
500kg is still a lot, Suzuki Swift is about 850kg and Lotus Elise is 730kg. These are full cars with proper safety, performance and features.
IMHO the only proper safety about this car is its low speed and I'm curious about the situation with car collusions. Ami might be slow but this doesn't mean that can't be in a high speed collusion.
Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range
#243Earlier quoted context omitted.
Quite honestly, an ebike solves a lot of this. I thought I would never use it in the winter, but a cheap rain suit is perfect to keep me warm and dry, and takes about 20 seconds to put on or take off. I don’t have to worry about sweat since if I get too hot I can just use the throttle or dial up the electric assist. I thought I would never use the thing in winter, but I actually find it absurdly practical.
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.
Maybe if you don't have the infra, but here in the Netherlands its perfectly normal to do this.
Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range
#244Earlier quoted context omitted.
And the same applies to every other vehicle, but I suppose you would still get in a car on a rainy day? You adjust speed and cycling style to the conditions, and for winter cycling there are plenty of good options for studded tires. The Nordics have succeeded in making winter cycling a more common activity, and you might want to check out the "winter cycling capital of the world": Oulu, Finland.
Last year a friend broke 2 ribs and forearm by slipping over some wet leaves on a bycicle - I don't see how that's comparable to a car. Also I don't have windshield wipers on my face (or windshield for that matter) - but maybe I'm just wired like that.
That's unfortunate. I seen that a family of four where crushed to death and burned alive in their Nissan X-Trail yesterday when it veered off the road on ice and hit a truck full of propane tanks.
Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range
#245> the £7,695 tiny electric car that has no boot, a 28mph top speed and range of just 46 miles I live in Paris and do everything with an e-bike that also has no boot, no passenger seat, a top speed of ~20mph, a range of ~30 miles... but cost me around €1,200 (since I built it myself). It now has over 7,500 miles. In day trafic it's probably much faster than the Ami, and it can also be put on a train. Couldn't be happi…
Biking sucks, it is dangerous and uncomfortable in snow, rain, cold, and heat.
Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range
#246Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
> Is it "increase the standard of living " when it decreases your life expectancy, physical shape
Yes, it increases the standard of living by pulling poor people out of poverty. So the rich consumer nation has their life decreased due to over consumption while increasing the standard of living of those from poorer nations. The rich consumer nation cannot consume AND increase life expectancy at an infinite rate.
Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range
#247Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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 bags probably exist, but I can't say I've seen them available, or used, by anyone at all. What? Almost all non-cheap backpacks are water-proof. Water-proof packs are around everywhere .
Right? I think that I would have to try to find a bike pannier that ISN’T waterproof.
Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range
#248Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I don't see how that's comparable to a car. Yesterday, local news, a car crash with all three involved drivers dead.
By slipping on wet leaves ? I guess it could happen but how likely is it ? Mind sharing the link ?
"in slippery conditions": https://eng.lsm.lv/article/economy/transport/snow-and-ice-ma...
(It's only a one-sentence mention in the article. There were only a few more details in the local news: two semis, one passenger car. All three drivers dead, two people in hospital. No details on what exactly happened, who caused it.)
Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range
#249Earlier quoted context omitted.
If it’s raining/snowing, or too hot, or too cold, I’d much rather be in an small enclosed car than exposed to the elements on a bike. The Ami has a primitive heater but no air conditioning, but there’s no reason that these limitations are inherent to a vehicle of this size. I imagine an Ami-sized car with creature comforts of a regular vehicle would sell extremely well in cities. Biking is great when the weather is a…
That 'raining, snowing, too hot, too cold' argument keeps coming up. You know, we humans are perfectly capable of dressing up appropriately and just enjoying the fresh air, whether it's warm or cold. In fact, it makes you feel alive! Get the nice warm gloves and raincoat out for winter, or the super light and loose shirt with sunglasses for summer.
I'm a keen cyclist but I still don't much enjoy cycling in moderate/heavy rain.
Cold I don't mind.
Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range
#250> And you don't need to have any form of licence to drive one in France! FWIW, that's wrong: only people born before 1985 ~ (i don't know the exact date) don't need any license. People born after that do require a license, which is much much lighter than standard driving license in France, but still requires several hours (I think it takes a whole day?), which I think is equivalent to what actual driving license in s…
A French driving license is an ordeal, at least compared to your typical US state.
This licence you can pass in a day or two, and the theoretical part is often done at school as a way to improve road safety.