Yeah the import & storage fees brings a 1-2k vehicle to around 5-8k,on the bright side though Chang Li wants to bring their vehicles to the U.S. so,maybe $5k road legal mini ev's in the near future 🤷🏻♂️
My boss used to drive this car during my internship in Spain. I can tell you he always looked ridiculous inside this thing, but he is quite eco-friendly minded and I believe not having to tow some additional two tons of steel with you as in a conventional car is just nice.
I was given a Smart for two EV. For driving around town, it's some of the most fun I've ever had. In a pinch I can even park it sideways instead of parallel. The wheelbase is so small, I take it down a beach road some trucks can't get down without bottoming out. I live in Hawaii, and even though our electricity is crazy expensive, it's still a lot cheaper than gas. Also I have an arrangement to get free charging. It gets 80 mi, but I still only end up charging it two or three times a week.
If any car or motorcycle company just built something similar using common sense that didn't look super dorky or weird & got got great mpgs, for around $8,000...That could be used as a daily driver and able to go 75-85 mph on the interstate. Many people would want one & they could sell a ton. It's not hard, all they'd have to do is make it look sportscar-ish & aerodynamic to help efficiency. With a fuel efficient motorcycle engine. Build a fun to drive manual version & a CVT automatic transmission for people who don't know how to drive. Make it with removable hardtop for nice days. I believe car companies purposely avoid building something like it & prevent others from doing so. Because they make more profits off building $30,000 junk vehicles.
@@michaelbrinks8089I just came here to this video thinking about this lol "low carbon footprint small vehicle". And there would be a good use for such small car. Imagine a car with half the size, it would be much easier to drive, park, avoid traffic, plus the avarage quality of air could improve because of less pollution, if the was a limit of 50km/h just to drive in the city there would have less accidents. Plus it would be much more affordable than buying a big car just to go to work.
I had one of these it was a shame the battery pack never updated. No development since the initial release. There are aftermarket batteries with double the range available now. But then again new manufacturers from Denmark are smashing it with micro evs now. Renault is missing an opportunity here
They've developed a" successor. " But it's not a car you buy it's a subscription service. Has a bigger battery in it if I remember correctly. Does about 80 miles.
BYD Seagull is a great representation of how far Chinese EVs have come in terms of price and quality. Starting at $9,700 and the new BYD Dolphin EV starts at $13,900
Anybody that watched the TV show CHiPs remembers the episode where they pulled over Rosey Grier in the original Honda cvcc before they called it the Civic. He had to get somewhere in a hurry so he ripped the front seat up and was sitting in the back seat holding the steering wheel but from the outside it looked like nobody was driving the car so they pulled them over. Most of CHIPS. Cases were taken from the real-life Highway Patrol records and reports, just like the TV show Emergency AKA Squad 51 a few years earlier
It's absolutely great. I own one, it is beyond me why Renault did not modernize and expand on this platform. Modern battery technology could do a lot. You can build your own battery and get 100 km easily. Also the two seats behind each other are great!
“I don’t tink it goes very far now lads, I can’t get in the fekker and I can’t get out the fekker, but it’s by far the best EV” What more do you need from a car?
@@itisjustacommentthat's the problem though. So many are driving big vehicles, I gather because the cars are so big and ppl are afraid of what happens in an accident. So everyone gets a big car, preferably one bigger than your neighbor because you want to survive over your neighbor. Hence the cycle continues of bigger and bigger trucks, which is not only environmentally polluting and destructive to roads but also a safety issue for pedestrians. But looking back I will say I prefer more of a vehicle like Aptera for even greater efficiency but also it is indeed more safe for the reason you mention.
@@youtubewatcher1555 That ship has sailed on the large cars. Even the Environmental people who tell others how to act are not driving their kids to school in large 4x4 or jet around on holidays or the best ones buying products at a much higher rate than any other generation to date. What would be truly better for the environment is to make people buy older cars or have to own cars for more than a decade, as the majority of people did before 2000. Manufacturing one new electric car is equivalent to driving three or four older cars into the ground. But I hardly think such people with give up being driven around or not buying the new greatest treaty item. To make said car save its big job btw :) any 40 mph car hitting you is going to enter the interior. I remember owning a 1970 mini around 1995. Only 2 weeks after a story on the news of a truck driver falling asleep and hitting 2 cars the two people were badly hurt but after 30 minutes they noticed a third car was involved, it was crushed that much they didn't even notice and if I remember rightly it was about a Fiesta size car that was the faster the trucker turn into about the width of a seat. , make being very nervous in my little mini after that I like Live and my legs , head, arms etc :0.
@youtubewatcher1555 this is why I'm looking to ev my little 1986 bronco ii. Motor is down to 5 of 6 cylinders. Problem is I'm below the poverty level. No more economic little cars in the U.S
Why so? Seems fine for european roads where everybody uses normal cars and not 2 meter tall 5 ton SUVs made to kill children in the most efficient way possible
This is the kind of vehicles they should be building for the cities and the short trips....but no, they present us with massive, super heavy , mega expensive white elephants
It’s absolutely great but totally screwed by a battery smaller than a hand torch. Modify it to take a decent battery and it’s the dog’s but it won’t be cheap as Renault never bothered either battery management systems.
