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Commuter Cars - Tango

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I looked at the Tango five years ago. They estimated a six-month waiting time, as they were hand-building them one at a time. It turns out it would have been a much longer wait, due to delays. Zero to sixty in under 4 seconds was impressive. But zero cargo space unless you remove the passenger seat (which was designed to be removable). The cost at that time was the same as the Roadster, but with only 60 miles of range (lead batteries) or 50% more expensive than the Roadster for lithium and increased range. I didn't like the tandem seating or the lack of cargo space or the lack of a crumple zone. (No safety testing because it's sold as a kit car, though the required assembly is trivial.) I also looked at and rode in the Roadster prototype, but the seats were horrid. And the estimated waiting time was over a year. I ended up buying the Zap Xebra, which was great fun, and MUCH cheaper, and no wait, and served me wonderfully well for four years.

I wish Commuter Cars all the best, because the more EVs the better. But it was not the car for me. I don't care for the looks. The Roadster is beautiful and gets far more range for the same price.

Rick told me that his intention was not to make the cheapest EV, but to make an EV that would reduce traffic congestion by taking up only the same amount of road space as a motorcycle, and can split and share lanes where permitted by law. They're just a few miles down the road from me.
 
I actually had reservation number one for the Tango with a $90,000 deposit. I was so excited when the car started production. Lots of delays and then Rick called me and asked if George Clooney could have my car telling me that I could have the next one which would only be a month behind the first. Anyways, being the nice guy I am, I told Rick that was fine, I could wait another month. Once my car, now George's car was done, however, Rick was told that the next car would cost over $250,000 unless he could line up at least 10 other full paying customers in which case the cars would cost $150,000. I never intended to spend more than the orignal $90,000 on the car so of course I passed on taking a Tango and got my deposit money back.
 
... Rick was told that the next car would cost over $250,000 unless he could line up at least 10 other full paying customers in which case the cars would cost $150,000.....

Was that bad business on his part not knowing costs? Or was he hoping the get a Clooney bump...

Should point out that there are story similarities with early Tesla BTW.
 
Rick had some loose agreement with the company in Great Britian that was going to build the cars for him, but apparently there were many modification made to the original design that caused the final engineering costs to be larger than expected. The company then wanted to make sure they got back their extra costs on subsequent cars. I don't know what finally happened with that agreement, because Rick told me he was going to try to build them in the US instead, but once I got my money back I didn't pay anymore attention to what was going on over there.
 
I actually had reservation number one for the Tango with a $90,000 deposit. I was so excited when the car started production. Lots of delays and then Rick called me and asked if George Clooney could have my car telling me that I could have the next one which would only be a month behind the first. Anyways, being the nice guy I am, I told Rick that was fine, I could wait another month. Once my car, now George's car was done, however, Rick was told that the next car would cost over $250,000 unless he could line up at least 10 other full paying customers in which case the cars would cost $150,000. I never intended to spend more than the orignal $90,000 on the car so of course I passed on taking a Tango and got my deposit money back.

That's actually a really sad story because I bet you'd have driven it much more than George Clooney.
 
The company in Great Britain being Prodrive, builders of Subaru's rally cars and Aston Martin's race cars, whose Chairman then bought out Aston Martin. They are known for running a very tight ship, I doubt it was they who underestimated original costs.
 
I always thought Rick built the Tango here. The first time I visited his shop there was one Tango out in the wild (George Clooney's) and one Tango in the shop, partially disassembled for modifications, so he could not take me for a ride. I never realized it was ever built elsewhere. I seem to remember his telling me they were building them one at a time, which explained the (then) estimated six month wait: One month to build each car and 5 or 6 people ahead of me.
 
I watched a few videos now, and each time they start I keep thinking the aspect ratio of the video is wrong- like I'm watching a 2:35:1 "Scope" video compressed to 4:3 TV ratio. Of course, that's not what's going on, but it cracks me up that it gets me everytime.
 
Noticed this bit on the website: http://www.commutercars.com/

fiveW.jpg


Safety and Stability
Don't let the size of the Tango fool you . . . while it may appear small its FIA-certified roll cage is actually the structure required for race cars traveling over 200mph. It has 4 times more side protection bars, for example, than the largest SUV. Its 4-point harnesses, low center of gravity, and weight (comparable to a midsize sedan) combine to make the Tango extremely safe. With 2,000 lbs under the floor (mostly batteries), it is ballasted to achieve the rollover threshold of a sports car.

So maybe they were adding enough lead plating (we discussed earlier) to bring the mass up to 2,000 lbs including the batteries.
 
There is a local SF bay area Tesla Roadster + Tango owner that has given rides in both at local events.

The Tango leans quite a bit in corners, but it is the top part that leans as the battery box, drive-train and wheels stay firmly planted.
After my ride I thought "Weebles wobble but they don't fall down", if you know what I mean...
 
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When I got my ride Rick said the cages was like a fighter cockpit or a race car.

He was about to convert to lithium and said we was going to add thick steel plates to the bottom to keep the low CG benefits the car relies on. Seemed like a step backwards to me but he was confident it was advantageous.
 
Safety and Stability
Don't let the size of the Tango fool you . . . while it may appear small its FIA-certified roll cage is actually the structure required for race cars traveling over 200mph. It has 4 times more side protection bars, for example, than the largest SUV. Its 4-point harnesses, low center of gravity, and weight (comparable to a midsize sedan) combine to make the Tango extremely safe. With 2,000 lbs under the floor (mostly batteries), it is ballasted to achieve the rollover threshold of a sports car.
It's heavy, stable, and solid. But it's never been crash tested. In a collision it's unlikely the driver's cage would be crushed onto the driver, but AFAIK there's no crumple zone, and it's the sudden stop that does most of the injury in a crash. It may have the same roll cage as a race car, but the roll cage is just one part of the safety equation, the crumple zone being the other. This is one of the reasons I decided against it. Rick is making safety claims based on theory, but those claims have never been tested, and I'm skeptical of the theory. Based on theory, Aristotle thought a heavier stone falls faster than a lighter one. Galileo decided to do a test and found the error in the theory. Nowadays a theory without test confirmation is considered just a hypothesis. This doesn't mean people shouldn't buy them. People ride motorcycles, and the Tango is certainly far safer than those. But they should be aware that the Tango is probably far less safe than a modern sedan.

The Xebra also has never been crash tested, but with a top speed on level ground of 35 mph, there's a LOT less kinetic energy. And my Zap dealer never made any safety claims other than its slow speed. I knew that if I got t-boned in it I'd probably be a goner.