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http://www.twike.com/

Or buy one from Neiman Marcus?

http://green.autoblog.com/2006/10/06/neiman-marcus-tries-on-some-green-for-the-holidays-christmas-bo/

It's at least better looking than the Aptera.

w/ the CNC milling machine I've just gotten together ( http://www.shapeoko.com/ ) and added a drive shaft upgrade to --- still need to finish documenting that on the wiki.

The Twike ( http://www.twike.com/ ) is essentially an enclosed electric three-wheeled cycle, I think I'll be able to bring it in a bit under the ~$20,000 it'd cost to import one.

Adding 3D printing functionality to the ShapeOko would certainly make the manufacture a bit more flexible.

William

I like the minimalism. Due to their small size, you can also park them in cycle and motorcycle parking spaces, which can be pretty handy around here. They are completely silent. Their energy efficiency is the equivalent of 300-600 miles per gallon! It's not a total replacement for the car, but for 95% of my driving, this thing's perfect.

What I'd really like to see is vehicles being designed a bit more use-specific. A small, light-weight vehicle is all you need for most purposed (basically a more convenient, weatherproof bike). Hauling around a bunch of extra weight is just so inefficient. I boggle at people driving one person in a big ol tank of a car... so much energy just to accelerate the machinery, the load is insignificant.

But of course I can understand that not everyone wants to have 2 vehicles in their household.

I read them looking for gaping holes to point out

I think I saw one: the fact that most of the US is built for cars, which is a problem itself. Population densities are too low. It'd be better if most of the stuff you'd need was closer by and you'd have parts of the road reserved for other traffic, so you'd be able to walk or use a bike, the latter being a vastly superior means of short-distance transport with incredible efficiency. There are all-weather bikes that look like raindrops on wheels - and possible of doing ~50mph when you're assisted by the battery. Add a little cart and you can do your grocery shopping for a week. I'd love to use this on the freeway - but its maximum speed is the freeway's minimum speed.

See http://www.twike.com/ and http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/james_howard_kunstler_dissects_suburbia.html

Another thing I'm in favor of (but this would be easier to implement in most larger cities or here in Europe) - replacing all truck traffic with "email for things".

http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2008/02/a-world-without.html It'd do miracles for the traffic congestion here in the Netherlands, since a lot of stuff has to go to Rotterdam anyway. One of the main freeways is blocked every day thanks to this. Trucks are limited to 50 mph (80 km/h) here and when one goes 49 due to the load, the next one will try to pass it - which takes 5 minutes.

for distances over 15km. to work...

http://www.twike.com/

still get your exercise, but still get to work.

Well, one could get Twikes here in the US:

http://www.twike.com/

Though it'd be easier to take them seriously if their website were more up-dated (more to be available in mid-2007)

William

Is there a comprehensive list of reasonably available electric vehicles?

The Reva ( http://www.revaindia.com/ ) has already been mentioned elsewhere in this thread --- one which I actually considered purchasing is the Twike ( http://www.twike.com/ ) (really more of an enclosed three wheel recumbent bicycle) --- there are some others though. A quick search on Google reveals:

  - http://www.zapworld.com/
  - http://www.teslamotors.com/index.php
  - http://www.gemcar.com/
  - http://www.zenncars.com/

There was an article in the local (Harrisburg, PA) paper recently about a local who'd purchased an all-electric scooter, and another about a (school teacher?) who had refurbished an electric car from the 70s which was street-legal 'causeit was grand-fathered in.

Of all the above, the only one which seems to have full equivalency to a gasoline powered vehicle is the Tesla (which is ~$100,000 if memory serves) --- I thought about getting a Twike, but it's ~$20,000, and would've required me to rent a vehicle for vacations, or to drive our other car (an 8 year old Cavalier w/ ~130,000 miles), so got a Chevy Aveo ($9,999 when I bought it the other year).

William

The Tesla's writeup in Automobile magazine was quite interesting.

I'd like to see an overview of available electric vehicles, esp. including alternatives such as the Twike:

http://www.twike.com/

(which is unfortunately sold out in the US until at least the middle of 2007)

William

I'm planning on purchasing a 2004 Toyota Prius this fall, when I move to California. The 2004 series has an AT-PZEV (advanced technology partial zero emissions vehicle) rating in California, and also qualifies me to park at meters for free and use the carpool lane with only me in it.

The 2004 model is very different from the 2003 model, and I would not have purchased the 2003 model (instead opting for a Honda Insight or Honda Civic GX). But the 2004 model has that much lower emissions rating and gets around 55mpg average, which is on par with the Honda Insight. The old Prius averaged 46mph according to EV World. It also has a larger size, moving it out of the compact and into the mid-size category. It also performs as well as a non-hybrid/electric car, according to people who have test drove it. It has a range of ~550 miles on a full tank.

The feature set is also very impressive--much better than that of the Insight or Civic GX, for the same $20k price range. I plan on getting bluetooth and the JBL six-speaker setup, at least. There's also the automatic parking feature, although I'm not sure if that will be available in the U.S.

The nice thing about the Civic GX is that it runs on natural gas. If you buy the Phill, partly financed by Honda, you can refuel in your own garage. But you don't have as much range as a Civic Hybrid. The Civic GX is also AT-PZEV, along with the Civic Hybrid. Unfortunately the automatic Insight is only SULEV, and the manual Insight, which gets better mileage, is only ULEV.

If you're only going to commute, then I might suggest the Twike. You'll have to custom order it, but if I only needed to commute then that's what I'd get. Unfortunately it is also $20k. The Tango is not yet available.

PERFORMANCE
Max. speed: 85 km/h / Range: 40-90 km, depending on driving style, topography and quantity of energy packs / Hill-start capability: 22% / Useful load: 2 persons plus luggage.
DRIVE
Electric: digital performance electronics with asynchronous motor / 3 kW continuous power, 5 kW peak power, regenerative braking and Tempomat cruise control / Muscle power: 2 mechanical pedals linked to a 5-speed hub gears, automatic pedal clutch / Energy Pack: NiCd 360 V, 2.0 to 3.3 KWh (2-3 modules each rated at 3.0 Ah, with individual electronic monitoring) / Energy consumption: 4-8 kWh/100 km from the mains, i.e. 10 times more economical than a small car / Energy costs: approx. one Swiss cent per kilometre, equivalent to 100 Fr. per year (10,000 km) / Rapid charge: 10-90 minutes (1 kilometre per minute) / Full charge: from 2 hours at 230 Volts / 10-Amp wall socket.