141–150 of 190 posts
Impressive. At this price point they had to cut some features. I wonder if one of those features is "Safety" and another one is "The front won't fall off".
Safety at a blistering speed of checks article 25 mph? Who in their right mind would design for safety if the thing can't even outpace a professional cyclist?
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It's just not true - the author of this article doesn't understand FMVSS or the process. How this works is basically: 1) There are safety guidelines (FMVSS) governing classes of motor vehicles. For LSVs, the regulations are _extremely_ simple. There's no such thing as a "DOT reverse camera factory." https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/571.500 2) The manufacturer must self-attest that the vehicle complies, and aff…
Millions of things are stamped "not for highway use" not because they don't comply with the relevant FMVSS but because the manufacturer doesn't know, doesn't care and doesn't want to think about it or risk being wrong.
> Millions of things are stamped "not for highway use" not because
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>there's zero market for something like it (Smart sadly fizzled out), mainly because of the onerous manufacturing and certification requirements mentioned in the article. Well, and most people don't want a specialized vehicle they can only use on certain roads for certain purposes but which take a spot on their property, need to be maintained at some level, etc. Maybe have some costs for registration, licensing, etc.…
> specialized vehicle they can only use on certain roads for certain purposes You just described a bicycle, which are pretty popular last I checked
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I wonder if there's a solution similar to experimental aeroplanes, e.g. a massive sticker which essentially says "THIS IS NOT A CERTIFIED PLANE, IT COULD BE DANGEROUS"
Those planes are allowed to be flown for specific testing purposes only. You cannot fly passengers nor even cargo with them. And each flight crew member must have a very specific, essential role. You can't fly e.g. a tourist and call him "mission specialist" to get around the rules.
Honestly, I think $7,000 delivered for this is a pretty good price. It would make a nice farm vehicle, especially with that dump bed. It's in the same price range as a lower end UTV and looks like it would be far more comfortable doing, e.g., snow clearing duty. Swap in a set of BFG Mud Terrain tires and you're all set. Some feedback on reliability, the rust issues, etc. would be nice but I'd seriously think about ge…
https://insideevs.com/news/502536/wuling-hongguang-mini-ev-c... That's the actual car I think I want most in the world. It's so cheap and fun, and possibly even practical for me, but I don't think there's any way I could drive it in my city sadly.
https://www.citroen.co.uk/models/future-models/ami.html
Though personally (if it will ever be produced in mass) I like this "re-make" of the old Isetta, the microlino:
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> specialized vehicle they can only use on certain roads for certain purposes You just described a bicycle, which are pretty popular last I checked
There's a huge difference between storing a bicycle and storing what's basically another car.
I bet you could fit 2 small NEV into same space needed for 1 minivan or full size pickup/SUV.
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In this case I think the positive reactions a year later are more a result of having a good use case for the NEV/LSV rather than the truck being a good buy for the general public. There's also arguably limited use cases like the article brings up (off road, not street legal, lots of land) - or at least "limited" in comparison with the average / mean vehicle that gets purchased by consumers. Great that it has a use ca…
How many of the trucks you see in the US are actually needed , though? Most of them are only used for commuting, and twice the size of a truck used for actual work.
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It’s really not that small in real life.
I'm in the UK and seen them about. They aren't very large, about the size of a Fiat 500 which is considered quite a compact car. [Edit] I've just looked it up and it is considered a mid-sized super-compact. Within 1/2" of the Fiesta for the wheelbase. Its quite dinky.
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A $7,000 wheelbarrow
In the video, he makes the point that the other thing he considered getting for his parents was a golf buggy. This came in cheaper and more useful.
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In the US you'd have to buy a bunch and put them through destructive crash tests to certify them, and I doubt these would pass - those smart cars actually have expensive high end steel structures built in that make them surprisingly resilient, and I doubt they do that in China. If they had 3 wheels you could skip a lot of that and count it as a motorcycle. Also, anything older than 25 years basically just bypasses th…
The “destructive crash tests” are required so that you have a fighting chance in surviving a crash with a SUV