Any EVs on the market besides Tesla?

[FLXX]

Are there any EVs for sale in the world that reach normal speed (no golf carts)?

 

[malcolm]

Here in the UK there's the Th!ink New City out now, shortly to be joined by the Smart ED.

 

[FLXX]

Here in the UK there's the Th!ink New City out now, shortly to be joined by the Smart ED.

Thx for the information. Is the Th!ink really already on sale? Where can I buy it? The Smart ED will be for lease, right?

 

[malcolm]

Is the Th!ink really already on sale? Where can I buy it? The Smart ED will be for lease, right?

Almost: UKP14,000 TH!NK city electric car ready for showrooms

Smart Ed will take longer. Presently Sodium batteries. Probably worth waiting for the Li-ion version.

 

[tonybelding]

Have any Think City cars been shipped yet? Last I heard they were right on the verge of delivering. It's not an option yet for Americans, but it's coming.

There are some other EVs on the market. There are an awful lot of NEVs of course, I can't even keep track of all the many different kinds that are sold now. I don't even try to.

There is the Vectrix maxi-scooter, which unlike NEVs can be driven at higher speeds (greater than 25 MPH) and is not restricted to side streets.

There is the Myers NmG, which is a three-wheeled, single-passenger vehicle. . . Available now, but costly for what you get. It can hit 80+ MPH on the highway, I've read.

There are a couple of Tangos on the road, I'm pretty sure. They are being built by hand because they have no funding to set up series production.

The Vectrix and NmG are the only ones I know that are non-NEVs and are available for immediate purchase in the USA.

 

[Cobos]

Think IS delivering cars, but like Tesla defining delivering is a bit hard. This article says that Petter Stordalen gets his keys to his first Think City, and is dated 27 of june. Stordalen is an investor in Think and has ordered 2 Think Cities for himself and also 20 for the hotel chain he owns for use in their car pool. So compared to Tesla he is a classical founder/customer. They've earlier said August as the date for proper mass-production though and what we might see here is a a 1-2 cars per week thing. Still as there are around 600-1000 customers in Norway, getting this car THIS year in any other country I would say is hard.

Cobos

 

[TEG]

This whole topic is a little vague. When it says "on the market beside the 5 Teslas"... It would make sense if it said "on the road besides the 5", or alternatively "on the market besides Tesla". Are we talking about new cars you can order, or existing EVs on the road?

At the moment, Tesla is perhaps the only EV manufacturer that is actively taking orders AND delivering some cars right now. That is likely to change in a couple of years with many other EV makers joining in.

Basically every major car company has mentioned that they are working on something (either pure EV or Plug-in hybrid). I think we will see the Mitsubishi MiEV, Th!nk, and Nissan EVs soon. Maybe something from Daimler and BMW soon after that.

In terms of something other than Tesla you could buy now it is either one of the leftover used NiMH vehicles from 1996-2000 (some hundreds of Toyota Rav4EVs and Ford Ranger EVs still running), something with 3 wheels (like the Myers NMG) or something that was a hand done conversion project, with the ACP Scion eBox perhaps the best example.

The Venturi Fetish is apparently "unobtanium" so it doesn't exactly count.
I don't think Tango is in proper production yet.
Zap, Miles, Zenn, & VentureVehicles keep teasing us...
Phoenix & Aptera seems rather close to production, but still only roam the streets in prototype form right now.

Anyways, there is lots more info to be found elsewhere on this forum, and on the web, so enough ramblings off the top of my head.

 

[vfx]

Of the few hundred Toyota Rav 4 Evs out there you can watch for them on Ebay. There has been four or five sold in the last 8 months. They go for about $60k. (not kidding).

 

[TEG]

And I opted for the RangerEV, which is an "adventure" since Ford doesn't support it at all anymore. Most of the maintenance is "do it yourself". There is an active "support group" who try to locate equivalent replacement parts to keep what is left of "the fleet" in operation. Replacement batteries are getting really hard to find, but (thankfully) the NiMH versions are still working on original batteries nearly 10 years after they were produced.

 

[Iz]

Replacement batteries are getting really hard to find, but (thankfully) the NiMH versions are still working on original batteries nearly 10 years after they were produced.

Is it possible to retro-fit the RangerEV with L-ion batteries?

 

[FLXX]

@TEG

Sorry, the topic should have been really better but I can´t change it anymore I think.

Great to see that discussion. What I´m looking for are EVs that reach at least 50 mph that you can buy now if you have some cash in your pocket. I think I read somewhere that the Th!inks won´t show up at the customers before the last quarter.

The RAV EV sounds intersting, never heard of that. Beside the few Teslas I think there´s no other recent vehicle on the market. But it would be nice to keep this updated here to see which companies will really appear on the market before the big ones are coming.

 

[FLXX]

Any news? Which EV will be the first that you can really buy? (beside the tesla and wait 1-2 years)

 

[graham]

I think the wait on a Tesla is less than a year now.

There is nothing I am aware of that you can walk in and purchase today without some time on a waiting list. The Aptera supposedly will be available pretty soon, but I am not sure how long the wait is for that.

 

[TEG]

eBox - Pricing & Availability
eBox by AC Propulsion

 

[graham]

Delivery: Accepted vehicle orders will be scheduled for 2007 delivery in the order that deposits are received

That is a nice trick! Order one today and you can retroactively cancel out any gas payments you have made in the past 8 months

 

[vfx]

Had not been to the AC Propulsion website in a while. It used to be a crude tech-n-type site.
Now it's got a nice history page and a "who uses our toys" plus photos and video. I guess it's been up for a year but if you have not seen it take a look.

 

[DDB]

Had not been to the AC Propulsion website in a while. It used to be a crude tech-n-type site.
Now it's got a nice history page and a "who uses our toys" plus photos and video. I guess it's been up for a year but if you have not seen it take a look.

Does anyone know why AC Propulsion never really got serious about production of the T-Zero? I remember Martin at one point (or at least if I recall correctly) tried buying one and he couldn't. Why let the tech, body, or the like go to waste? I'm sure a competitor to Tesla would make for some very exciting times.

 

[TEG]

Does anyone know why AC Propulsion never really got serious about production of the T-Zero?

Um, like they would need to have seriously deep pockets to do things like:

#1: Develop a safety system for the laptop Li-ions.
#2: Develop a crash test program and work through all the DOT regulations.
#3: Develop a brand/marketing campaign.

Sound familiar?
We know it isn't easy.

 

[stopcrazypp]

How about Phoenix?
I'm not sure if they have any vehicles avaliable yet, but they are highway capable EVs.

I went on Ebay and besides the RAV-4 and S-10 EVs and NEVs, there was a Solectria Force (basically a converted Geo Metro) avaliable. There was also a converted Geo Metro. Probably your best bet if you want to buy a highway-capable EV right now is either used or a converted one.
Besides Ebay, you can find used converted EVs here:
EV Tradin Post: Electric Vehicle Classifieds

More converted EVs:
Electric Vehicles Forsale
Grassroots Electric Vehicles

I'm unaware of the reputation of the listed sites, just as a warning.

 

[TEG]

Phoenix has had some delays and re-engineering along the way. Also, I think they are planning to deliver to fleet customers first.


Around my area the EVs I see in approx order of regularity are:

#1: Rav4EV (all individuals)
#2: RangerEV (mostly city owned vehicles, and a few private like mine)
#3: Tesla (!)
#4: S10
#5: Corbin Sparrow/Myers NMG
#6: ACP eBox
#7: Ian's Wrightspeed
#8: Jorg's Tango
#9: Occasional home-brew like 914 conversions

It probably won't be long until Tesla sightings are more common than Rav4EV sightings.