New EV now available!, your thoughts please...

General BVS related area
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booboo
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Postby booboo » Sun Jun 29, 2008 3:06 pm

Looks like these ;

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Electric-Kiwi-Car ... 286.c0.m14

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ECO-ELECTRIC-CAR- ... 286.c0.m14

Which lead onto --> http://www.wattcars.com/

and www.gobuyelectric.com

The reviews of other EV's on the Wattcar site are quite entertaining :wink:
London to Brighton on a Sinclair C5 - 6/5/07 - what a trip !
Ford Explorer 4.0 v6 petrol for everyday abuse - thank God for LPG
Sinclair C5's (Plus "c5alive.co.uk" ) as a hobby

favguy
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Postby favguy » Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:28 am

Hmm....
Well I think the quality of our product is higher than the cars mentioned above, being built on an ISO 9001 line to EEC type approval standard.

On to an earlier question, it is built in Shanghia, China. We looked into the possibility of building locally, but unfortunately, it's impossible to build here and retail at a reasonable cost. Then after researching several manufacturers, chose our vehicle due to the higher quality build.

Keep the questions coming guys. :D

Paul
Last edited by favguy on Tue Jul 08, 2008 3:00 pm, edited 2 times in total.

favguy
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Postby favguy » Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:41 am

Evguru,
The 50 mile range is at 80% dod, the 40 mile range is allowing for not draining the batts too low, hence keeping a better life expectancy.

Paul

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geekygrilli
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Postby geekygrilli » Mon Jun 30, 2008 9:02 am

Hi Favguy

Is it classified as a car or a quadracycle?

Thanks

Christopher
Last edited by geekygrilli on Mon Jun 30, 2008 10:04 am, edited 1 time in total.

favguy
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Postby favguy » Mon Jun 30, 2008 10:01 am

It's classified as a quadracycle (as is the G-wiz and Megacity)

Paul

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geekygrilli
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Postby geekygrilli » Mon Jun 30, 2008 10:55 am

Thanks

Couple more:-

1. The G-wiz has had some crash worthiness added to its design now - how does your vehicle compare in crash tests? I suspect there will be concerns soon of people driving these type of 'cars' and that the government may well step in and do something. The NCAP testing has vastly improve vehicle safety by making the public very aware of the fact that driving a car into a wall hurts, and a modern car can now protect you in someway. I do think this is a factor people consider when purchasing a vehicle.

2. With regrads to liability insurance, having worked for a large car company I know what sort of issues we had with failure of parts leading to injury etc...who is liable with these vehicles, you or the manufacturer?

I suspect your set up is very much like that of GoingGreen, but i don't know how that works either.

Think I'm done now!

Best regards

Christopher

favguy
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Postby favguy » Mon Jun 30, 2008 12:19 pm

Ok, more excellent questions!
Our vehicle has not been crash tested, from the structure however, we know it is well built and I would suggest it is at least as safe as a g-wiz, I don't know what g-wiz have done recently to improve the safety of their cars to be honest.

On from this, our product along with the others currently in this market are not cars! They are quadracycles, lower speed EV's mainly for town and city use. we are not pretending it is anything else, and our user information will reflect this fact and whilst I absolutely agree that it may not be as safe as a car in some crash situations, but then neither are motorcycles, mopeds, or cycles for that matter. In the matter of safety in the event of an impact, I would suggest it sits below a car but well above a motorcycle.

I don't think there is an arguament for government intervention on safety grounds, or else where does one stop? Should we make it illegal to ride cycles, mopeds & motorcycles and force everyone to buy a car because it's sometimes safer? Can't build a kit car because a production car is safer? or drive an older car? You see my point :)

Regarding liability on failure of parts leading to injury, we aim to ensure this doesn't happen in normal use, this is why we have chosen the supplier we have with ISO certification. Ultimately, I don't know the answer to the liability question, but we will be able to confirm this prior to point of sale but I expect it will lie with the manufacturer of the specific part that fails, in the event this causes a dangerous situation other than that which can be caused by "normal" failure of a component as happens often in all makes of vehicle.

Paul

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geekygrilli
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Postby geekygrilli » Mon Jun 30, 2008 12:42 pm

Good answers!

My point about quadracycles was that with their increased popularity more stingent rulse may be applied. Cars never really had to have any crash protection, but NCAP really pushed things forward. If they were to get hold of one of these and test in a similar fashion would the general public not be put off?

Did G-wiz sales falter with the poor (misguided in some respects) press they received? And has it picked up since?

I'm sure, however, that the rising cost of fuel people will be more tempted to buy a vehicle such as this.

Everyone who buys a motorcycle can clearly see that if they hit something its not going to be pretty!
However its kind of middle ground with a quadracycle - and I think it should be made very clear in all publising that it is such, but you have stated that this is your intention, so there should be no cause for concern.

Are Daimler Chrysler OK with the sale of a car that, to a layman's eyes, looks pretty much just like a smart car? Didn't Lotus patent the shape of the Esprit? And then there was the whole Caterham/Westfield debacle...

Sorry, I'm just playing devil's advocate...

favguy
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Postby favguy » Mon Jun 30, 2008 1:12 pm

Well, Smart have just been facelifted and don't look like this anymore... :wink: Also, close up, they are quite different, so I think we'll be fine.

Also for reference a dealer has been selling a similar model in the US for some time with no issues from Smart as yet

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qdos
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Postby qdos » Mon Jun 30, 2008 2:01 pm

Whilst NCAP tests etc do focus people's attention on safety requirements they are not the be all and end all.

Remember the crash test is actually carried out at a relatively slow collision speed. 30mph well you say that's the speed around town and is reasonable. However when two cars meet head on it's a combined speed of 60mph if they are both driven at 30mph

You can very quickly see the NCAP test is really just a lip service and marketing tool

If we really wanted safe cars it might be actually more productive to fit every car with a dagger pointed at the driver in the centre of the steering wheel.

Cars are as safe or as dangerous as you drive them. Going down the test route just ensures we all wind up eventually driving round in armoured tanks!


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