Japanese Car Makers Back 200mph Eliica EV
30 companies stump up $250k investment each for Eliica electric tech
It sounds utterly bizarre, but it seems that 30 companies, including Isuzu and Mitsubishi, have some faith in the car and its creator Hiroshi Shimizu - they've chipped in $250k apiece for a slice of the project.
Mind you, that's not merely so that Shimizu's company, SIM-drive, can put the Eliica into production. As interesting as an eight-wheeled, 200mph electric car is, what's really getting Shimizu's investors going is the promise of a 'conventional' four-wheeled electric vehicle due to be unveiled in January.
That car will, if produced at a volume of 100,000 cars a year, could be built at around $25,000 (£15.5k) and will allegedly possess a range of 200 miles on a single charge.
It all sounds very worthy, but we'd rather see the Eliica in production - if we have to have an electric car, it might as well come with eight wheels and a 200mph top speed, after all...
Brumm brumm!
"hey look at this weird things that does 200mph, and japanese car manufacturers are giving millions for it...'s 4 wheels cousin that is due out in January"
If the prius isn't affordable after what 6 years? then what's the point. It's still a dull, awful looking, souless piece of rubbish that's expensive to manufacturer. People who buy these types of electric cars must only do short runs because of the charge range. Therefore i reckon there's a big argument to question the actual co2 savings over a 3 year ownership when you consider the manufacturing costs, R&D and charging/maintenance.
I love new technology and i love inventions but i just see the current crop of electric and hybrids as the modern day concord. Interesting on paper, too expensive and too many imperfections in reality.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff