Slashdot Mirror
The Return of the Sparrow Electric Vehicle?
H0NGK0NGPH00EY writes "I have been keeping my eye on the Sparrow electric vehicle, following last year's bankruptcy of its creator, and recently noticed that the brightly-colored three-wheeled electric commuter car has been reborn. Myers Motors will begin selling an upgraded version this summer, after having acquired the rights and tooling from Phoenix Environmental Motors, who mention this on their official homepage."
In any case, note that since top speed is 70mph, you'll only be able to drive 20 to 30 minutes at that speed. That hardly even qualifies as a commute by many people's standards!
It's a neat idea, but the batteries just aren't there. Still, I'm sure that battery technology has advanced a bit since 2000, right? Maybe they'll produce yet another upgraded version soon.
Ceci n'est pas une sig
The Merlin Roadster is also a three wheel drive, but not as ugly and has an ICE. A mini review is here.
R(k)
That is ugly. Perhaps if it were designed something more like this: Carver
Don't forget, a 1000MW coal plant releases 88 lbs of radioactive stuff every day.
.03 mrem .009 mrem
Coal plant, living within 50 miles:
Nuclear plant, living within 50 miles:
(Both figures are considered extremely low levels.)
HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
You should stop spreading so much FUD about nuclear energy until you actually know something about it.... glowing craters my ass.
TMI-2, the unit which comprised the only nuclear accident on US soil was the fault of a secondary cooling system that malfunctioned and caused sensors to misread the backup valves. The reactor overheated and the cladding on the bundles in part of the reactor fused due to the LOCA. The plant was stabalized that day and only 1-2 millirems of radiation were released (you get maybe 100-150 a year, 10 or so when you get an x-ray).
As for what is the safest and most efficient power source? Nuclear hands down.
However, I will agree that coal and oil are killing us, every second they are running.
Hey ppl! Chk out this electric car -REVA -from India.
Features Grab:
This elegant, light-yet rugged, two-door sedan comfortably seats 2 adults in the front and 2 children upto a height of 5' and 6" (165 cms) in the rear. It has a range of 80 kilometers in stop-and-go city driving, and a top speed of 65 km/h.
you can read a review about it Here
It costs somethin like Rupees.2.20 lakhs (which is abt $5300).
Why does yahoo do this
Electric cars don't NEED to be ugly, slow and have tiny ranges. Take the tZero for instance, 100 mile range, top speed of ~100 mph, 0-60 in 4 seconds; handily beating Ferraris and Porsches in an 1/8 mile. and it's only moderately hideous looking! The price, however, is entirely hideous.
- "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"
but the reality is that the Sparrow is being sold right now
.
/., do not a delivery make.
Er, no it isn't. The article summary:
Myers Motors will begin selling an upgraded version this summer . .
And from the mfg website:
Soon, you will be able to purchase your Sparrow Classic on-line through our secure ecommerce connection. In the meantime, you can secure your place in our production and delivery schedule by reserving your Sparrow Classic now!
A press release and a website, even on the fron page of
everything in moderation
Reviews: 3-Wheelers and The independant.
#1 - I wrote the article summary. I know what it says.
#2 - They're taking money, and they have stock on hand. Delivery will be within the year. This is a lot more solid than your average Slashdot vaporware.
A grand total of one Tango exists. The single prototype. The inventor is in the process of developing an $85,000 kit-car version, but even that doesn't yet exist. So yes, the Sparrow is being sold right now, and the Tango isn't.
I have actually been following these things pretty closely. I didn't just happen across some press release and submit it to Slashdot. Alternatives to the dinosaur that is the ICE have been a keen interest of mine for quite some time now.
Do not read this sig.
According to this site, electric cars produce less emissions even when you count the power plant emissions.
In a study conducted by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, EVs were significantly cleaner over the course of 100,000 miles than ICE cars. The electricity generation process produces less than 100 pounds of pollutants for EVs compared to 3000 pounds for ICE vehicles. (See Table 3)
Engine Type CO ROG NOx Total
Gasoline 2574 262 172 3008 lb.
Diesel 216 73 246 835 lb. Electric 9 5 61 75 lb.
http://www.windmeadow.com/
We saw the sparrow in CycleWorld in 1998, ordered one immediately, reservation number 38. Got it in March '00, after much design/redesign/rework by Corbin. It is absolutely the coolest vehicle we've ever owned (and we've owned more than a few vehicles.) The fit and finish was excellent, and it really looks better in person than it does in photographs. We do all our own maintenance, and have upgraded quite a few things on our bird. It'll do 100 MPH, has about a 40 mile range (which is rough on the batteries, 20 gives lots more charge cycles), carries 6 Kilowatt-Hours in its 13 batteries (i.e. it'll run your laptop _and_ your cellphone both for about 2 weeks - motive power takes orders of magnitude more juice than bit-flipping, a good freeway ramp acceleration can easily draw 300 amps at 160 volts - that's 48 KW, enough power to run ten average houses).
We've talked to (literally) over 2000 interested people in the last four years of driving, and have had hundreds of people say they'd buy one "tomorrow" if Corbin were in business, or if it was made by GM, or if it got a little better range. The big problem is battery technology. Lead acid batteries are big and heavy - even the expensive hi-tech spiral-cell units are tempramental and basically hate being discharged. Better batteries exist, like NiMH or Li-Ion, but right now they would add $4000 to the price of the vehicle - once those prices come down, the.Sparrow with a Li-ion pack could have a 200 mile range. As it sits, having a plug at work is probably a good idea.
Corbin's big problem was they had a design concept, but didn't want to listen to the expertise of the engineers they had. (They employed Jeff James, Peter Senkowski, and Claire Bell at various times - all electric vehicle experts, all ignored and blamed to greater or lesser degrees) Eventually the company collapsed in a mire of pointy-haired-boss syndrome and financial impropriety.)
I'm pleased to see that Myers is looking to improve on the design, and fix some of the things which Corbin addressed with hand-waving. (Although I must say that early on, Corbin was great about supplying parts, fixing problems, and listening to our comments. Then the money got tight.) I'd also love to see the DOT decide that there was a place on our highways for a smaller vehicle - the reason the Sparrow is a three-wheeler is that it gets around thousands of expensive, heavy, or (for an electric vehicle) downright contradictory "automobile" design requirements by being classed as a "motorcycle". However, this put weight and size restrictions on the vehicle which forced compromises on range and stability. Other countries have the concept of a mini-car, which can go at speeds above 25 MPH but may not be allowed on the highest speed freeways.
I'm also glad that there's somebody to buy a replacement windshield from - I've been worried that we'll take a stone one day, and I'll have a $14,000 paperweight!
The ultimate answer, as a motorcyclist, an electrical engineer, and a dedicated geek: With knowing in advance what we'd go through finding insurance, fixing problems, breaking drive belts, changing batteries... I'd do it again in a heartbeat. The Sparrow has been an absolute blast, a total head-turner, the ultimate conversation piece, and it's won a trophy in every car show we've entered it in - even got "People's Choice" in our home-town once!
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-- No No No NO, Don't tug on that! You never know what it might be attached to. - Buckaroo Banzai
In any case, this vehicle would be much cooler with NiMH batteries. The gravimetric energy density of NiMH are betwen 60-120 Wh/kg, as opposed to 30-50 for Pb-acid. So you could pack more than twice the energy in the same weight, and be talking about a 50-100 mile range instead of 20-40 miles. A NiMH battery would cost twice as much, but probably last at least twice as long, so the lifetime costs would be comparable, and the environmental costs would be much smaller.
A well thought out post, but you forgot to account for the internal resistence of the different battery types. NiMH batteries have a "high" internal resistence, which makes them somewhat inefficient in high-current applications (this is why most cordless powertools still use NiCad cells).
Also, FYI, in the US lead acid batteries are already recycled quite well. You made a good point about the assosciated mining though.
Life is too short to proofread.
Actually, lead acid batteries pose only minor environmental challenges. They are recycled almost completely (same tech. as regular car batteries and this waste stream would be insignificant compared to that). At least 80% of the lead in them is recycled as well. Significantly reduces the amount of mining needed.
If what you say about not recycling the nickel in the NiMH batteries is true, then lead-acid batteries are almost certainly more "environmentally friendly". You do realize they mine nickel don't you? Health hazards are minor if regulations are followed.
Yes, it is beautiful, but it is NOT "staggeringly well designed." Trust me on this; I was a former owner of a Sparrow, and found out -- the hard way -- that a three-wheeled, rear-driven layout is fundamentally unstable in the event of fishtail: flip, roll, totaled.
Here's a vehicle that solves that problem: Carver
I have a positive modifier on Troll. When I mod someone Troll their karma should go UP!