clutchcargo

Thanks for the info.

There was some buzz on these guys last month and it is nice to see some more car details.

The best part of the website to me was the images of the car taking shape.

I'll take mine in Arctic White thank-you.

Time to call my electrician to get that big plug installed in the garage (well maybe not quite).

I wonder what it sounds like?

My Hitachi commutator motor based woodwoking equipment is annoyingly loud spinning at around 11K.

I agree the interior is not out of the Lexus playbood but it is a far cry from Lotus in terms of cheaponess.

marthafokker

The Elise CD is something in the low 0.4
Smoothing it would will make the Tesla Roadster more efficient at higher speeds.

Some sources are saying about 100k, and others are quoted between 80k to 120k.

In the Wired News, they indicated they are working on project "White Star". A sedan EV with next Gen battery system. I am interested in keeping my eyes on that development. That would be a hot seller if this roadster sells well.

rworne

Ah yes, the cost is going to kill it. Once I found out it was made with Lotus, I knew it was another failure waiting to happen.

They could go cheaper if they choose their partners wisely - but nooo, they wanted to get all bad-ass with the looks and pair up with an expensive automaker...

BioBanker

It seems to have a ton of potential, but that is a lot of dough to find out that the batteries last only 6 mos and the company went out of biz because of it....

WhiteS2k

So how do you see the WrightSpeed + Arial pair up? Will they have a chance?

rworne

In order to make a difference, these things need some sort of appeal to more than a small group of eco-minded millionaires.

They need to be affordable enough so that someone who typically drops $30-40K on a car would want to consider it. Once they get experience making them, costs can start to go down.

Having what is essentially an all-electric Lotus Elise at twice-the-price is a sure way to get your total sales into the low dozens.

The WrightSpeed + Arial pairup will suffer the same fate. You are already starting with an expensive platform and building on top of that.

The general consumer does NOT want one of these (though I DO). The consumer wants a Prius (or Civic) with an all-electric drivetrain. Add to that the acceleration and speeds of a conventional gas engine and 200+ miles per charge. We already proved such a thing can be built with the EV-1.

Since this thing will have limited range, it will likely be a commuter car. The problem is that they will likely be a "second car" because they are useless for longer trips. This means they need to be cheap to buy and cheap to run.

The WrightSpeed/Arial and the Tesla are rich-man's versions of the $199 12V Lightning McQueen you can pick up for your kids at Costco.

Lice Locket

Yup! This car is marketed towards celebrities. The company is small and hopes that with celebrity publicity they can get more investors so they can mass produce a car for the middle class. Remember, microwaves too were items that used to be reserved for the rich...

But, do they really have to be eco-minded? $100k for a 0-60 in 4 second car in general is not bad. I read that the Wrightspeed X1 costs about that much (0-60 in 3 seconds), and has a standing quarter mile at 11.1 seconds! But, the Wrightspeed has only one gear, so it only has 150 miles per charge (the Tesla has two gears, 0-65 mph, and 65-120 mph I think).

WhiteS2k

But that is not the market that Tesla and WrightSpeed are aiming for. They don't want to sell to the "general consumer", they want to sell to the same people who'd buy exotics like the Ferrari and Porsche. But what they offer is an "electric exotic" that can beat a Ferrari or Porsche at a much lower price ($100K - $150K for the Tesla and WrightSpeed vs. $170K for Ferrari and $400K for Porsche; and $660K for the Venturi Fetish).

marthafokker

And for people that want a geocery getter EV, AC Propulsion is working on that. Project name is "Hanster"... given by David Letterman when Tom Hank talked a little about it a few years ago. Tom Hank is one of their investor. It is really a Scion Xb EV.

They are trying to finish two prototypes and do test runs on Route 66. See.... http://www.remyc.com/thebox66.html

The Scion Xb project is supposed to cost between $40k-$60k. $40k will get you the 180miles range, while the $60k will get you 300miles range.

WhiteS2k

[QUOTE=marthafokker,Jul 20 2006, 03:56 PM]They are trying to finish two prototypes and do test runs on Route 66.