[quote=esmith]is it really that difficult to simply produce *normal* vehicles that are electric/hybrid powered? as simple as a motorized bicycle to a battery powered vw? where are the PRACTICAL engineers shoehorning electric systems into existing platforms? do we really needs vehicles that look like insects, have no trunk space or rearward visibility?
They had very good reasons to go with this weird shape. Your freeway cost per mile ~ cross-sectional area times coefficient of drag. 2x the coefficient of drag = 2x cost per mile = 2x the amount of batteries you must put in the vehicle to achieve the same range = 2x battery weight, price, time to recharge. They are claiming 120 mile range with 10 kwh of batteries (at 55 mph). That’s HUGE. By comparison, conventionally shaped GM Volt will have 40-60 mile range with 16 kwh of batteries. Prius conversions typically achieve 4-5 miles per kwh.
How do they do that? Aerodynamics. Their weird shape has Cd that’s supposedly 5 times lower than a Hummer and 60-70% lower than a typical economy car.
Notice that there are no rear-view mirrors or wipers. Those are very bad for aerodynamics. Instead of rear-view mirrors, they have cameras and monitors.
To quote their CEO from one of their videos, “typical windshield wiper mounted on a vehicle has the same drag profile as this entire car”.[/quote]
