14k for a “car” with a top speed of 16 mph / 25 km/h??
I guess they’ve managed to unify the drawbacks of cars and e-bikes as well.
Stuff like this always seems to be stupid expensive for some reason.
Because they’re not going to sell a ton of units. Economics of scale work against them. They need to at least break even, and not just on the parts and labour for the unit (which are already higher than they would be on a higher volume product all on their own) but also on the r&d, post-sale support and warranties, administration, etc.
That’s a great explanation for why it costs that much, but not for why they think it’s a good idea to sell it for that price.
Other companies first build a prototype and gather investment so that they can build a first 1000 (not 60) units and can reach a price that can be attractive for the market. Or build first a niche, super exclusive product so that the lack of economies of scale doesn’t matter as much.
In here I just can’t see the value proposition really. For half the price I can buy something like a Renault Twizy or Citroen Ami with similar size, twice the speed, twice the range, and still zero emissions. Plus I don’t have to pedal, and I get a radio. Why would I ever want this?
Entrepreneurial ego plays a part I think. Unless they already found 60 people that want them for this price.
Developing an agile enough process and factory to make things like this might be an interesting business model. Probably way Too low profit to attract investors though.
The ground clearance on that thing looks like it would ground out on the first pothole.
Toyota made an all-electric version called i-Road 10+ years ago: https://newatlas.com/toyota-i-road-full-enclosed-tilting-electric-three-wheeler/26498/
There was another one made in the 80s, I forget the name now though. It was an independent company as I recall but it was also stupid expensive.
Going back, there’s also the 1950s-era Reliant Regal (aka Mr. Bean’s blue 3-wheeler that keeps tipping over):
The Sinclair C5 is pretty much the same idea and from the 80s.
But not enclosed.
Anyone got a clue why there appear to be 2 steering wheels?
Probably second wheel is a brake handle?
Hard to tell from the pictures and video.Hun!?! So you can pull on it regardless of the position of the hands on the steering wheel, I guess? That’s a new one on me.
No idea but I was wondering that myself.
