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The confusing but cute 3 wheel Solo EV is finally in production:
It's taken years, but it's finally happening: the Solo, the adorable three-wheeled electric vehicle from Electra Meccanica, is entering production.
As Electrive points out, news of the Solo first surfaced about four years ago, and deliveries were supposed to commence two years ago, but nothing happened — until now.
According to an announcement from Electra Meccanica, the company that designs and makes the Solo, the car is today entering production. It will be produced under contract by manufacturing partner and investor, Zongshen Industrial Group, in Chongqing, China.
[...] As you might expect given its name, the Solo is a one-person electric vehicle that's targeting itself hard at individual city commuters.
It has 100 miles (161 km) of range and a top speed of 80 mph (129 km/h), which is more than you'll ever need in the confines of a crowded city. It's all powered by a 17.3 kWh battery that feeds electricity to a 82 bhp motor that drives the single rear wheel.
[...] It's quirky, different, and it's way smaller than a car, which makes it great for use in cities where space is at a premium and conventional cars aren't getting any smaller. I'm not sure it really makes sense, but we'll get to that.
Electra Meccanica has said it wants to produce 75,000 of these, which seems ambitious, especially given that it didn't meet its previous delivery date.
(Score: 2) by Unixnut on Wednesday September 02 2020, @08:50AM (5 children)
> I'll wait for the women to determine whether the thing is "adorable". To me, it falls just a little short of "butt ugly". But, I'm obviously not the target audience.
Seconded on "Butt Ugly" there. I had a look (not on TFA though, which won't even load an image unless you enable all kinds of third party JS), and the first word that came to mind was not "adorable", but rather "distended", followed by "warped". I can only guess I am not the target audience either, although I am not sure who would be.
It might make sense in congested European cities, as a replacement for public transport due to people being averse to sharing space with strangers due to Covid, but Europe has loads of small "city" cars like the "smart car", the BMW 3 wheel scooter with roof, that was kind of a car hybrid, and the Renault "Twizy", which is a very small electric city car with 4 wheels (and two seats), and others that I can't remember now.
In the USA everything is built bigger, even the cars. A "normal" euro car looks small compared to US cars, so the city/microcars, if small enough for ancient European capitals, will suffice just as well in US cities.
This seems to be a car that is larger and uglier than what is on the market already, while being only able to seat one person (so not as practical) , while being less stable due to having 3 wheels (admittedly not as unstable as having the single wheel at the front like the Reliant Robin, but still less stable than having 4 wheels).
I guess claiming it is "quirky" is its only selling point, which is marketing speak for "its so poor compared to the competition, that we have to stress its oddness as the reason to buy it".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 02 2020, @03:18PM (3 children)
On "BMW 3 wheel scooter with roof" did you mean the BMW C1? It's only got two wheels, but it's the closest I can think of without going all the way back to the Isetta. If they did do a 3 wheel covered scooter, though, I'd be interested in a reference. I always thought I'd love to get a C1 if they ever sold in the US, but no dice.
(Score: 2) by Unixnut on Wednesday September 02 2020, @05:52PM (1 child)
Honestly I thought I saw a three wheel version of the C1 once, but I may have confused it with this Peugeot: https://image.xedoisong.vn/w1024/Uploaded/2019/bgtwae/2016_04_27/53fyeo_aili.jpg, [xedoisong.vn] although that seems to be a concept that was not put into production: https://newatlas.com/peugeot-hymotion3-three-wheel-concept/10195/ [newatlas.com]
They made them, but without the roof, which seems like a shame. The C1 was very unique, and seemed like an excellent city commuter, even had storage behind the seat for larger load. According to wiki sales were poor, so they discontinued it. In fact, looking at the the general experience of these "micro cars", sales are consistently poor. Seems people just are not interested in them. The most successful was the "Smart car", which struck a good balance between size and practicality, and is similar to the original "mini" and "fiat 500", all of which have gotten much fatter lately.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 03 2020, @09:18PM
You may have seen one, it was probably just modded though. 3 wheel kits exist for a few bikes, and DIY is not too hard if you have a torch and knowledge.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Thursday September 03 2020, @10:30AM
Why not just put a lid on a motorcycle-plus-sidecar?
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Wednesday September 02 2020, @05:22PM
The guy was on Dragons Den a few years ago, couldn't get an investor when he was based in BC.
Moving to the US hasn't changed the problems with the design. It still looks like a kit trike that someone built in their garage.
Price wise it's absolutely not competitive. Spend a few grand more and get a real EV.
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