The current Fisker Karma is priced at $87,900 - not bad for an electric car, but pretty bad when they announced models like Tesla Model S priced at just $49900, or the future Chevrolet Volt that will be also kept in the same $40k area. In conclusion Fisker will also need a cheaper model.
In an interview with Inside Line, Fisker spokesman Russell Datz said: "One of the future products we have is something that is significantly less than what will be on the market first. It may be a step above [the Chevrolet Volt and Tesla Motors Model S], but it’s hard to say right now."
He gave no name for the future model, but he confirmed that future plans include a lower-cost vehicle.
Instead of reinventing the wheel, General Motors decided to reinvent the automobile. It teamed up with Segway to create a two-wheeled, two-seat urban people mover. Called the P.U.M.A. (Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility), it carries many of the design ideas that we once thought were pipe dreams coming out of design schools.
The PUMA is part of a vision of a vehicle network that is able to recognize outside objects, including other moving vehicles, so that they can all interact and avoid each other. The compact vehicle integrates a lithium-ion battery, digital smart energy management, two-wheel balancing, dual electric wheel motors, and a dockable user interface that allows off-board connectivity. If anyone is scared of two-wheeled motoring, there are two small wheels placed at the front and back of the concept for stability.
Each charge to the PUMA’s battery should be good for 35 miles (GM did not indicate recharge times.) Since this is designed as for urban areas, the top speed is 35 mph.
There may be a new electric sports car to kick around. The Sigma GTE goes rummaging around in Ford’s parts bin and comes out with an electrified Mustang. It’s an all-wheel drive electric car that uses two Advance Motors DC motors connected directly to front and rear Ford differentials. Each motor provides a of peak 100 hp each, running at 144 volts.
All of this is built around a fiberglass body with a previous generation Mustang interior. The lithium-ion batteries should be good for 100 miles per charge.
Like any good startup company, Sigma has very ambitions plans. It wants to to start selling cars in 2010 and producing 500 examples per year. Considering the established benchmark, the Tesla Roadster, has taken orders for about 1,100 examples in a little over a year (and has only build of around 320 them), Sigma’s plans are very ambitious indeed.
Tesla’s Model S just debuted last week, and the company is already reporting 520 reservations for the all-electric sedan. Hopefully it can keep up with production demands when the sedan appears in 2010. Tesla has produced about 320 of the 1,100+ orders of the Roadster since production began about a year ago.
We saw first Tesla’s Model S Sedan last week, and yesterday we got up close to the touchscreen dashboard. Now watch as Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk takes out Steve Jurvetson for a test drive in this $49,900 (after federal tax credit) all-electric sedan.
EV Innovations started out turning gas powered cars into electric ones. Now it’s ready to build one of it’s own from scratch with the Liv Inizio.
The obvious benchmark for this car is the Tesla Roadster. So before this electric sports makes its debut next week in New York we’ve used some preliminary data to make a comparison:
Performance: Liv Inizio will do 0 to 60 mph in under four seconds; the Tesla Roadster does it in 3.9
Range: Liv Inizio gets 200 miles from an eight hour charge; the Tesla Roadster gets 224 miles from eight hours
Pricing: Liv Inizio, $139,000; Tesla Roadster, $101,500
Last week Tesla revealed its Model S sedan, but one interesting element that was left out of the debut material was the dashboard. The whole car is controlled through one large touchscreen. Everything from climate control to navigation is on this one panel. It also offers a 3G data connection to keep up with things like Google Maps and streaming radio.
While this is all very impressive, we’d expect nothing less from an electric car company with a internet millionaire as CEO.
Tesla gave the full reveal today on the all-electric Model S. The company’s first sedan will start at $57,400, but that is reduced to $49,900 after applying a federal tax credit of $7,500.
Tesla is promoting this as a family car, and that’s not hard to believe with seating for up to seven. This sedan has normal seating for five full adults, but it also is taking a page from the old station wagons and has a child-size set of reward facing seats.
Just like the rest of the domestic automakers, Tesla’s Model S comes with a list of options. The standard car comes with a lithium-ion battery pack that is good for 160 miles, but there will also be battery packs good for 230 and 300 miles. The base Model S will do 0-60 mph in under six seconds, and a optional sport version should shave about a second off that time. All cars will be electronically limited to a top speed of 130 mph.
Tesla says the Model S can be charged in any 110V, 220V or 440V outlet. While the 440V takes a convenient 45 minutes for a full charge, we may be a little displeased with having to devote a room in our homes just for the new electrical set up required for 440V service.
Tesla is gearing up for the official debut of the Model S sedan on March 26. The design shouldn’t be too much of a surprise considering the latest teaser image we saw last month has already given us a pretty good idea of what the all-electric sedan will look like. Instead the big news from Tesla today is the pricing. The Model S will start at $57,400, but that is reduced to $49,900 after applying a federal tax credit of $7,500.
Production of the Model S should begin in 2011. We expect Tesla’s sedan to have a range of at least 160 miles from its lithium-ion battery pack, and all this will likely be confirmed at the unveiling next Thursday.
Lightweight Lotus designs seem to be a favorite to turn into electric vehicles. The Elise was the basis for the Tesla Roadster. Chrysler just basically strapped a bunch of batteries to the Europa to make the Dodge EV, and now Ecotricity has been modifying an Exige to make its own plug-in sports car.
Ecotricity is actually a company that sells electricity captured by wind, so the concept car could almost be considered wind-powered. The British company has only spent about £200,000 ($290,000) so far, but it says the car should be able to make the 0 to 60 mph sprint in four seconds and hit a top speed of 140 mph.
This is more then just a pipe dream. The engineers have even put in some interesting features like a finger print recognition ignition (start the car with a finger print). If all goes right, this electric car could be in production by the end of this year. The largest hurdle that seems to be left to cross is giving the little guy a name.
Check out some of the videos after the jump to watch the progress of this electric sports car.
Post a comment
Picture Gallery
Performance: Liv Inizio will do 0 to 60 mph in under four seconds; the Tesla Roadster does it in 3.9
RSS -
Webmaster free news |