I want this with a truck bed, I'd kill for an electric extended bed 2000 ranger size truck.
At 5 horsepower, towing and cargo is going to be fairly limited. I would normally suggest a trailer, but… not for this one.
All-new solar-powered 'city car' is coming to the U.S. – it costs $6,250
11–20 of 34 posts
Re: All-new solar-powered 'city car' is coming to the U.S. – it costs $6,250
#12Basically a golf cart that with a max speed of 28 mph. Perfect for golf club retirees, but not the 99% of US consumers.
Why is the being downvoted? This is basically what it is. You can put lipstick on it but it’s basically a golf cart. Golf carts and that whole style of vehicle is a valid alternative for cities. I still prefer bikes but I would use a golf cart based transport network if it was safe and I didn’t have to share the road with gigantic 8000 lb suvs driven by people who keep missing their anger management appointments. The…
These cars drive around Amsterdam quite a bit.
They drive on the city road in between other "8000 lb" suvs. Not sure why that matters. I drive my car a 1,500kg car right next to 30,000kg trucks, was never an issue for me.
I find this fascination with the size of the car and how it supposed to be a hazard quite amusing.
Roads are meant to be shared between different participants. These carts are meant for the city, where everyone's speed limit is 50kph anyway, and they avoid the faster roads. For many, this is all they need.
Re: All-new solar-powered 'city car' is coming to the U.S. – it costs $6,250
#13A good counterweight to the seemingly common view that anything smaller than a tank and cannot do 60mph backwards is emasculating. There are too many large, heavy, dangerous, expensive 'cars' on the roads everywhere in the world. I can drive. I do not own a car, and I have set up my life not to need one (nor nee to fill my brain with rubbish about insurance etc), but I would consider one of these. I could even charge…
A friend of mine likes to point out that Formula 1 cars are very light and the drivers aren't emasculated. But somehow this detail doesn't make it to the car designers in Detroit.
Re: All-new solar-powered 'city car' is coming to the U.S. – it costs $6,250
#14A good counterweight to the seemingly common view that anything smaller than a tank and cannot do 60mph backwards is emasculating. There are too many large, heavy, dangerous, expensive 'cars' on the roads everywhere in the world. I can drive. I do not own a car, and I have set up my life not to need one (nor nee to fill my brain with rubbish about insurance etc), but I would consider one of these. I could even charge…
As a general rule, one should question their beliefs if their beliefs require some type of derogatory state of mind about some other, disagreeable group.
For instance, what is more likely: people drive large cars en masse because they have fragile egos, or large cars are solving some problem they have, namely they have a lot of stuff to carry around?
As a personal anecdote: after the first kid, I had to ditch my tiny car for something that would accommodate all the stuff that comes with a kid. Now that we have a second on the way, I realize the small SUV we got is too small.
Re: All-new solar-powered 'city car' is coming to the U.S. – it costs $6,250
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why is the being downvoted? This is basically what it is. You can put lipstick on it but it’s basically a golf cart. Golf carts and that whole style of vehicle is a valid alternative for cities. I still prefer bikes but I would use a golf cart based transport network if it was safe and I didn’t have to share the road with gigantic 8000 lb suvs driven by people who keep missing their anger management appointments. The…
These cars drive around Amsterdam quite a bit. They drive on the city road in between other "8000 lb" suvs. Not sure why that matters. I drive my car a 1,500kg car right next to 30,000kg trucks, was never an issue for me. I find this fascination with the size of the car and how it supposed to be a hazard quite amusing. Roads are meant to be shared between different participants. These carts are meant for the city, wh…
I think American drivers is the real concern. There is a certain percentage of people in the US who really have their heads really solidly right up their ass about sharing the road with other users.
As someone who regularly bicycles and walks let me tell you just a few of the things I have personally experienced. I’ve been spit on, had drinks thrown from moving vehicles onto me, been yelled by a motorcyclist for him almost hitting me on the shoulder of a road, been fairly regularly threatened with violence for riding my bike (1-2 times a year someone just loses it), been run off the road by a pickup truck while finishing a mountain bike ride (on purpose), had diesel vehicles blow their exhaust at me when passing (common), and actually had a family member get run down two meters off the main road by someone not paying attention and rummaging through grocery bags in their backseat while driving — hit him from behind in the middle of the day. It was incredibly difficult to prosecute that case and the police and district attorney in the area really didn’t want to do anything.
I could go on, but the point is that America is not Amsterdam and that “8000 lb” vehicle thing is really more of a reference to car brain idiots and the system that supports them than Gross Vehicle Weights themselves.
My entire family still commutes by bike for 70-80 percent of our trips but we are committed to change, and we live in an exceptionally bike oriented city in California.
I’ve spent quite a bit of time in Amsterdam and find it one of the most deeply compelling transportation systems in the world. I would be happy to use one of these vehicles, but I worry that the small army of car brain idiots in the Us would make using a vehicle like this just plain dangerous and untenable.
All the best.
Re: All-new solar-powered 'city car' is coming to the U.S. – it costs $6,250
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why is the being downvoted? This is basically what it is. You can put lipstick on it but it’s basically a golf cart. Golf carts and that whole style of vehicle is a valid alternative for cities. I still prefer bikes but I would use a golf cart based transport network if it was safe and I didn’t have to share the road with gigantic 8000 lb suvs driven by people who keep missing their anger management appointments. The…
> Why is the being downvoted? I would think because of “but not the 99% of US consumers” . Vehicles such as this one can be used for a significant fraction of trips that currently are done with heavy cars. Yes, US consumers will have to change, but IMO, and I think I’m far from alone in that, that’s needed to solve the climate crisis, at least in the short term.
I agree. It’s definitely a great idea.
Good point about the 99 percent.
Re: All-new solar-powered 'city car' is coming to the U.S. – it costs $6,250
#17I want this with a truck bed, I'd kill for an electric extended bed 2000 ranger size truck.
Gemcar's GEM e2 looks very similar to this. And as well as a e4 an e6 (for 4 or 6 passengers) they do EL XD is a work utility version that can carry 1415 lbs or tow 1250.
Re: All-new solar-powered 'city car' is coming to the U.S. – it costs $6,250
#18I want this with a truck bed, I'd kill for an electric extended bed 2000 ranger size truck.
I had a 1998 Toyota Tacoma with a full length truck bed. I swore I’d drive it until the wheels fell off.
Sometime close to 250,000 miles, the u bolts rusted through on the front wheels. One fell off in a drive thru. Got it fixed and the other one checked. They said it was okay, but the other wheel fell off three weeks later. It had a few other problems - AC was leaky, interior plastic was disintegrating, so I sold it for like $1,000 about five years ago and I’ve regretted not just fixing it up and keeping it ever since. I can’t find a similar size/function truck for less than $8-10k. And new “small” trucks aren’t big enough to haul a sheet of plywood. Neither are some big ones.
Re: All-new solar-powered 'city car' is coming to the U.S. – it costs $6,250
#19Basically a golf cart that with a max speed of 28 mph. Perfect for golf club retirees, but not the 99% of US consumers.
That means they are competing with electric bikes, especially those 3 wheeled. Naturally there is some benefits in terms of driver comfort, but I suspect the bikes will have a more competitive price.
Re: All-new solar-powered 'city car' is coming to the U.S. – it costs $6,250
#20A good counterweight to the seemingly common view that anything smaller than a tank and cannot do 60mph backwards is emasculating. There are too many large, heavy, dangerous, expensive 'cars' on the roads everywhere in the world. I can drive. I do not own a car, and I have set up my life not to need one (nor nee to fill my brain with rubbish about insurance etc), but I would consider one of these. I could even charge…
As a general rule, one should question their beliefs if their beliefs require some type of derogatory state of mind about some other, disagreeable group. For instance, what is more likely: people drive large cars en masse because they have fragile egos, or large cars are solving some problem they have, namely they have a lot of stuff to carry around? As a personal anecdote: after the first kid, I had to ditch my tiny…
C. It's necessary to drive a car because of poor societal choices made over the past 100 years.
When you were a kid, how big was your parents' cars?