Topia shows off 330-pound HUVO electric car

Compared to the other single-seat electric vehicle that we had the misfortune of laying eyes on recently, Topia's HUVO looks just magnificent. This clearly minuscule road warrior, which officially tips the scales at 150-kilograms (or just over 330-pounds), holds one lucky motorist and a small briefcase (if you're lucky). Reportedly, the frame is constructed from high-tensile steel plate, the doors and the back panel from aluminum alloy, the roof from carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP), the windshield from polycarbonate and the interior / wheels covers from ABS resin. Your guess is as good as ours when it comes to crash test ratings, but we suppose we should wait and see if this thing even sniffs the commercial market before worrying over that.

[phanbouy @ Jun 28th 2008 1:17PM]

"holds one lucky motorist and a small briefcase (if you're lucky)"

meaning you can bring a small briefcase, right?

by the way, this looks awesome, but i'll still be riding my kawi ninja 250 =D

[Tinu @ Jun 28th 2008 2:15PM]

Looks like it will rollover with just a flick of a finger :-P.

[Bunson @ Jun 28th 2008 2:38PM]

Yeah, i'd like to see it pass safety tests. Imagine it getting hit by an SUV...

[Surur @ Jun 28th 2008 2:54PM]

Imagine it getting hit by an SUV..
----------------------------------------------------

Maybe if SUV's are such a hazard on the road they are the ones who should be banned.

[inteller @ Jun 28th 2008 3:47PM]

anything that hits it simply punts it out of the way and it lands in a ditch.

[thedesolate1 @ Jun 28th 2008 3:57PM]

and maybe you should rent 2 cars the next time you want to borrow my SUV to carry your shit when your house gets hit by a natural disaster.

[Reader @ Jun 28th 2008 4:30PM]

"Maybe if SUV's are such a hazard on the road they are the ones who should be banned."

We should also remove all signs/poles that someone might run into. Also, we need to cover everything with pillows. Really big pillows.

[egloskerry @ Jun 28th 2008 5:33PM]

Desolate, are you serious? Your excuse for buying one is that you need it to save your stuff when your house is destroyed? Does that happen every three months for you?

[loosely_coupled @ Jun 28th 2008 5:57PM]

these would be great if commuters would use them.. obviously they would need to have have their own lanes... they should expand road ways and give small EV's their own dedicated space like bike lanes.. or perhaps small EVs and bikes could share the bike lane...

[Aguiluz @ Jun 28th 2008 6:06PM]

A small breifcase can hold many breifs. Those are important!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Briefs

[thedesolate1 @ Jun 28th 2008 8:02PM]

no im not serious... I own a Honda Civic Ex coupe but Im just pointing out how ridiculous it would be to remove SUV's because they are a hazzard on the road or whatever. For instance they are very useful when you are a college student and are moving from time to time all of your shit to new apartments. Sometimes I wish I had an SUV because it would save me much time and money.

[phanbouy @ Jun 28th 2008 8:51PM]

@desolate:

i'll bet if you compared the full life cycle cost of ownership of an SUV vs. renting a minivan twice a year you're looking at paying $1,000s extra for an SUV. dealerships can't even get rid of the used ones anymore.

[OneLove @ Jun 29th 2008 10:27PM]

its the eee pc of electric cars

[Macro @ Jul 7th 2008 4:46AM]

Couldn't share the lane with bicycles, what if the cycle hit you? I'm sure the bike would win

[thedesolate1 @ Jun 28th 2008 1:18PM]

Its only news when the eco an gas friendly vehicle isn't UGLY.

[Darkroom @ Jun 28th 2008 11:23PM]

... and makes you wanna play Mario Kart Wii...

[OneLove @ Jun 29th 2008 10:29PM]

throw some d's and a couple of tv screens on that bitch!

[Krush @ Jun 30th 2008 1:09PM]

Ugly??? --- this is the "Mainstream" electric car look ....

[Michael R @ Jun 28th 2008 1:22PM]

Where's the windshield wiper?

[TomTom2007 @ Jun 28th 2008 2:47PM]

doesn't seem to have one... then again, probably doesn't need one
you could just stick your hands out and wipe the water off yourself...

[Macro @ Jul 7th 2008 4:43AM]

Can't have that, the draw on the battery would probably make it stop haha

[iEye @ Jun 28th 2008 1:22PM]

This thing looks like it would tip over, at least 250lbs of the battery weight would have to be located on the bottom to provide stability in a sharp turn...

[phanbouy @ Jun 28th 2008 2:09PM]

i don't think this is made for high speed cornering

[Pingmeister @ Jun 28th 2008 1:29PM]

Crash test? I don't think it's gonna matter much how the vehicle crumples when it ends up 400 feet away after being hit by a 2-ton car. You can scramble an egg in its shell...

[Chuck @ Jun 29th 2008 9:51AM]

You can?

[Carl M @ Jun 28th 2008 4:13PM]

I imagine this car is only intended for city driving under 40 mph. It looks like a nice idea for that purpose. I wouldn't want to head out on the highway with it, though.

In any case, the purpose of the car appears to be as a showcase for new manufacturing technology for light but strong materials. The same tech can be applied to larger cars to reduce their weight considerably. But that wouldn't have looked nearly as cool on the show floor, and the tiny car might also inspire new ideas beyond the vanilla car that you're used to.

[Mr Awesomer @ Jun 28th 2008 1:31PM]

"This clearly minuscule roadster..."

It's not a roadster. Sillys.

[The Dude @ Jun 28th 2008 1:32PM]

What a POS! This is something a wussy would drive! I would never drive that or any of these wussified electric panzy cars that only seat one/two people and remind me of ejaculate. NO THANKS!!!

I'll stick with my Jeep Unlimited Four door.

[phanbouy @ Jun 28th 2008 1:52PM]

If it's less threatening to whatever semblance of manhood your strip-mall goin', cubicle-slave, dominant paradigm-worshiping hick ass, you could always bring along canisters of gasoline to dump out the window while driving; just so you can feel satisfied that you're being wasteful enough.

[Haikibutsu @ Jun 28th 2008 1:58PM]

I am a wussy, and when I am about to get in a fight instead I hide behind my nearest friend to minimize possible injury. I tell the teachers about the bad students. Is this car right for me?

Oh, and everything I said was pretty much true.

[Haikibutsu @ Jun 28th 2008 1:59PM]

Oh, Phaunboy, that other post from the other night... Its just like right now, I recognize your avatar, so thats how I know your phanboy.

[CarrotAndStick @ Jun 28th 2008 2:01PM]

Insecure about your masculinity, much too much, eh?


It's just a vehicle. Not a penis substitute. If you don't want one, don't buy one.

[Haikibutsu @ Jun 28th 2008 2:49PM]

How the hell do we "leave our personal comments to ourselves" while you get to post your stuff.

Egotistical Shithole.

[melloncollie @ Jun 28th 2008 2:58PM]

Actually, everything you just said is classic insecurity.
Re-affirming, you used a form of the cliched "real mean do...", aggressive towards any form of response.

Yeah, you're insecure.

[Timothy Sottek @ Jun 28th 2008 3:06PM]

TheDude,

You probably don't realize this given your characteristics, but you just satirized yourself in response to phanbouy.

Never thought I'd ever say this, but:

+1, phan.

[CarrotAndStick @ Jun 28th 2008 3:07PM]

@ Haikibutsu,


S/He's "The Dude", remember???



"The Dude" and his tribe get a pass on such things. After all, there's only so much we can do to allow such self-obsessed maniacs simple pleasures like ranting nonsense here, before their "egos" (a.k.a penis insecurity) lead them to off themselves.


Think about it. This ejaculate-obsessed, Saturday-Lover has a Jeep to make up for the vacancy in his pants. Not a fair deal, but a decent substitute, wouldn't you say?

[Reader @ Jun 28th 2008 4:33PM]

The Dude, Austin Powers' invention might help you out with your problems.

[bartoron @ Jun 28th 2008 4:45PM]

Your self-description is a lie, because there's no such thing as freakishly tall nerds!

[The Dude @ Jun 28th 2008 5:33PM]

Oh, you are all so clever and witty. ha............

Keep making personal attacks.

CarrotAndStick re:Think about it. This ejaculate-obsessed, Saturday-Lover has a Jeep to make up for the vacancy in his pants. Not a fair deal, but a decent substitute, wouldn't you say?"

Sex is good, love my saturdays off (I love my career), jeep is great and no vacancy in the pant's (Oh I know, your just using a cliche's and stereotyping, your so clever), it is clearly still there and I have never had a complaint.

But I never made a personal attack on any one single individual in my first post. It was a generalization, now you are making it personal which is libelist.

[phanbouy @ Jun 28th 2008 6:37PM]

@TEH DUUD

"now you are making it personal which is libelist."

so let me get this straight, no denial that you're an insecure hick; and now you're being a hypocrite too. as if that wasn't enough, you're whining like the little entitled bitch-ass that you are.

i'm sorry you got beat up in high school, but that doesn't entitle you to talk shit about others who don't drive your Insecurity-mobile as "pussies", you raging asshole prick. Thanks, and good luck in the rodeo.

[the dude @ Jun 28th 2008 10:51PM]

Again phanbouy, you just made it personal and creating a false character of myself.

Not a whiny bitch, never got beat up in high school, not a hypocrite, nowhere near insecure, If you want to call me a hick (far from it), be my guest, but you are being libelist. These are huge assumptions and are fraudulent claims to my character.

Again, my original post was a generalization and opinion. I never personally attacked a single person (apparently phanbouy, you felt you were that individual I described in my first post to get you in such a rage and took it personally even though your name was never mentioned) until you and some others started assuming, attacking me on a simple post expressing so. Now you and other personally start calling me names for no reasons, expressing a rage towards me, making false accusations of my character and took something impersonal to personal.

I guess you guys are in high school or something to make ad-hominem attacks and can't handle someone's opinion towards a vehicle that I find ridicules, impractical and of no use to me or my family.

And yes, I am entitled to whatever I choose to drive. That is my prerogative and choice. I personally wouldn't drive the ugly POS, panzy looking egg if I had a choice of biking or driving "It". That is my opinion and not a personal attack on any one person. I drive the vehicle I drive because it meets my needs and I can take certain ill family members to the dr. in it. Something this conveyance would not allow me to do.

check and mate.

[fuelfilter @ Jun 29th 2008 2:47AM]

I'm an over the road driver. After a week on the road, that would be the last thing I'd want to drive. I'll keep my Excursion.

[Haikibutsu @ Jun 29th 2008 9:01AM]

To think you are such a stable man, but you get provoke but strangers on the internet as if they are going to kill you? You're pathetic.

[Luketouch @ Jun 28th 2008 1:33PM]

"HUVO"... any relation to "Hoover"?

[Dan @ Jun 28th 2008 1:33PM]

Why does Robotnik come into my mind when I look at this....

To ride this thing you would need the same vehicle taste of Dr. Robotnik.......

[lexxdiamons @ Jun 28th 2008 3:40PM]

Funny

[BigD145 @ Jun 28th 2008 1:35PM]

It's too top heavy.

[phanbouy @ Jun 28th 2008 2:11PM]

really? it looks like 90% of the weight is at seat level or below

[BigD145 @ Jun 28th 2008 3:20PM]

Step inside and that'll change.

[Zzephyr @ Jun 28th 2008 5:55PM]

Yep, I think the wheels need to be extended out a bit in order to reduce the tendency to tip.