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Electric Car Sighted on Highway - Who Makes It?

Posted by Cliff on from the welcome-to-the-21st-century dept.

moophus managed to spot an interesting vehicle on the roads: "Spotted: one electric vehicle on the highways of Atlanta, Georgia. Sighted around 6:30pm EDT, going south on I-85, traveling ~60mph (had a cool hum). It was a single seater, three wheeled wonder. Can anyone identify make, model? Any details on this bugger, like: range, efficiency, top speed, acceleration, cost, and cell type? I could only get several pictures which didn't turn out too well, since I had to gamma correct two of them. Another interesting thing that I've heard about electric cars: they have purposely put in noise makers in the wheels (like those plastic tri-cycles back in the day) because they just ran too quiet to be safe. Is this true?" The pictures didn't turn out too badly, as you can definitely make out much of the shape of this thing. It's more like a motorcycle than a car, but it still looks interesting enough. Hopefully more vehicles like this will be making their way on to the markets (and the roads) sometime soon.

4 of 124 comments (clear)

  1. I could only get several pictures by isorox · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Spotted: one electric vehicle on the highways of Atlanta, Georgia. Sighted around 6:30pm EDT, going south on I-85, traveling ~60mph (had a cool hum)"

    "I could only get several pictures"

    Is anyone else worrried about people driving at 60mph snapping away?

  2. Sparrow by Score0,+Overrated · · Score: 4, Informative

    Is it a corbin sparrow? Looks v.similar and they're Atlanta based.

  3. The Sparrow by Corbin Motors of San Francisco by stefanlasiewski · · Score: 5, Informative

    Moophus,

    I've had my eye on those vehicles for 2 years :)

    The car you are looking at is called the 'Sparrow'. . It is manufactured by Corbin Motors of San Francisco (actually, their main factory/headquarters is in Hollister, CA, 30 miles south of San Jose; but few people know where Hollister is). It's a one person vehicle. It has a 60 mile range and can go up to 60 mph. Cost is $14-16,000 It's available in North America, Europe & Asia.

    I've sat in a Sparrow, but I've never driven one. It's a comfortable, but spartan interior.

    Corbin Motors deal mostly with motorcycles, but has this small electric vehicle business on the side (and good luck to them!).

    Their main showroom is located 1.5 blocks from the 'South Park' area in South of Market in San Francisco. They are surrounded by a bunch of former dotcom buildings (and a few surviving dotcoms, like mine :) .

    --
    "Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
  4. Noise in the wheels. by whatnotever · · Score: 4, Funny

    I sure hope they put noisemakers in those things. Just a few days ago, I was walking past a car that didn't strike me as all that special until it started moving without making noise. It was a Prius, I think. I sort of freaked out and almost shouted, "Dude! Your car isn't making any noise!"

    I then realized that if electric cars become more prevalent, I am *so* dead. When crossing roads these days, I'm often in too much of a hurry or just too lazy to look both ways and all that jazz, so I just rely on my ears to hear any approaching bringers of death and/or mutilation. If cars go silent on me, I'll be roadkill in no time!