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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: 3, Interesting) by Rich on Wednesday September 02 2020, @10:17AM (5 children)
My late 1st gen Smart car is approaching an age for replacement, and I'm in the market for a car with pretty much the performance envelope of that in TFA. However, this one is a fail. Not so much because of the design, which must be the worst front/rear imbalance since the Nelson-class battleships, but because of its overall measurements and capacity.
I went to their site, and it's 302 cm long, which is a total no-go. Hard limit here is 250 cm, which allows sideways parking, which is THE most important requirement for any city car (even the 2nd and 3rd gen Smarts fail that). Also, despite being longer than any of the Smarts, its capacity is a joke.
If there's really no alternative I might trade the 250cm requirement for something ultra-efficient that looks like the VW (X)L1, for tree-hugging cred, but that would need to have the tandem passenger layout.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday September 02 2020, @10:29AM
2nd gen VW eUP - 360cm, 200+km range
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Wednesday September 02 2020, @01:29PM (1 child)
I seem to recall that sideways parking is illegal for cars in many cities, no matter how well they fit. Though I suppose as a three-wheeler this might be legally classified as a motorcycle and fall under more permissive regulations.
(Score: 2) by Rich on Wednesday September 02 2020, @03:50PM
Many people seem to recall that (and indeed, to my knowledge, the German law isn't really clear on this). But it definitely is tolerated around where I live.
I can gladly report that, in nearly 20 years of driving 1st gen Smarts, and saving probably over a thousand hours of searching for parking spaces, I've got the odd ticket for proper parking or speeding violations - but not a single one for parking sideways.
Just been checking the smart website. It looks like they've completed the all-electric switchover, the 269cm 3rd-gen EQ starts at 22k€, minus about 4k€ eco-subsidy. Ugly, but bearable if my one was a write-off (otherwise i'd rather have it rebuilt if it breaks). Smart are moving the production to China now, so there's hope that we see a few from a moonshine run of the production line at eBay prices ;): "Snort car, 15kWh, 10k€ ... ;)"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 02 2020, @01:31PM (1 child)
You should drive it before saying that. Putting the single wheel in the back is a much better idea than putting it in the front for stability reasons. I'd be curious to hear from people that actually drive them once they're actually being delivered for reviews, but I've got a trike license and that arrangement of wheels is surprisingly stable.
Plus, you can do wicked burnouts and drift them like a mo fo. For the likely use case, I don't see this as being a problem. You're not supposed to be going on road trips in something like this, it's for short trips to the grocery store and around town. Preferably with a charging station on either end.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 03 2020, @03:44AM
You sound like a good customer for a Polaris Slingshot, have you tried one yet?
I drove an early one on their small test track (friend worked there), it was a blast!