Mindset Six50 solar electric concept is light, green, and a bit homely

As the big auto manufacturers scramble to come up with fuel-efficient alternatives for us gas addicts, smaller companies are swooping in with both concepts and production models. In the latter category, we have Mindset AG with the solar electric Six50 concept you see here. The 2+2 seater is designed to weigh just 1,764 pounds and measures about 13 feet long with a slab of solar panels over its haunches. Designer Mura Güntak expects the Six50 to run just about 62 miles per charge (although an optional generator can be added to extend this), do 0-60 in 7 seconds, and plans to roll out 10,000 of these bad boys by 2009 at the cost of $78,000 each.

[Via Inhabitat]

[Josh @ Jul 8th 2008 2:24PM]

gross...

[rock99rock @ Jul 8th 2008 2:37PM]

I thought "gross" or something like that at first too. Then it kinda grew on me. Then I realized i was on drugs. Full circle. Not a true story. Your results may vary.

[tyler @ Jul 8th 2008 2:39PM]

Back to the Future ... meets Pimp My Ride

[thedesolate1 @ Jul 8th 2008 2:40PM]

Hey its the new Dodge Solar Charger!

[Bunson @ Jul 8th 2008 2:56PM]

or hippie dodge magnum.


My first impression: Pimped out ghetto hippie hearse.

[rreddy @ Jul 8th 2008 2:57PM]

...And now make your funerals environmentally friendly with the new solar-powered funeral car and a little bit of model T flair.

[phanbouy @ Jul 8th 2008 2:59PM]

"Pimped out ghetto hippie hearse"

Laaiiid back... with my tie dye in my coffin and my food stamps on my mind?

[Lars @ Jul 8th 2008 3:29PM]

I like it! Looks kinda like a coffin. Don't like the color though... give me black or something. Ohhh or wood paneling!

[CharlieX @ Jul 8th 2008 2:25PM]

Whitewalls?

Man, I'd put spinners on that pimp wagon!

[thedesolate1 @ Jul 8th 2008 3:06PM]

They see me rollin... they hatin....

[GatgetMan @ Jul 8th 2008 7:21PM]

What happens when you stick bicycle wheels on a Volvo Wagon...

[xcrunk @ Jul 8th 2008 2:25PM]

Bringing back the white walls....hahahahaha.

Nothing like a set of white walls on 22's. Yuck.

[helloUser @ Jul 8th 2008 2:27PM]

I can hear the arabs in the middle east shakin' in their boots. What will they do without their oil profits?

[phanbouy @ Jul 8th 2008 2:31PM]

probably be bombed less

[Marques @ Jul 8th 2008 2:27PM]

It looks like a mix of a Dodge Magnum and a worm that had its end cut off.

[Lowest Ranked @ Jul 8th 2008 2:50PM]

Actually it looks like its missing 2 horses in the front. Wagon coach FTL.

[Marques @ Jul 8th 2008 4:25PM]

Think if I bought one, I could do a modern day version of Oregon Trail?

[Indie @ Jul 8th 2008 2:31PM]

It's a hearse!

[Louis Sun @ Jul 8th 2008 2:29PM]

so thats what hearse in the future is going to look like.

[Funke, Tobias Dr. @ Jul 8th 2008 2:29PM]

This certainly settles the nearly perennial question of "has the world gone mad?"

[spaceb @ Jul 8th 2008 2:57PM]

It has!

[thatrotierkid @ Jul 8th 2008 2:59PM]

this was the deal breaker for you?

...really?

[Funke, Tobias Dr. @ Jul 8th 2008 3:05PM]

As a red-blooded American with more than a passing interest in vehicular design, yes. I would also canonize John DeLorean if I had the power.

[farfisa @ Jul 8th 2008 2:29PM]

I always thought DeLorean should've made a wagon!

[Esat Dedezade @ Jul 8th 2008 2:29PM]

Cruisin for chicks....

...will not work in this vehicle.

[stefan @ Jul 8th 2008 4:31PM]

we're geeks. We dont't cruise for chicks.... not with much success anyway.

One might pick up a girl with the Swiss number plates though... very stylish.

[Lowest Ranked @ Jul 8th 2008 5:03PM]

Stefan.

Speak for yourself.

[Scythe @ Jul 8th 2008 2:30PM]

Oregon Trail called, they want their wagon back.

[CharlieX @ Jul 8th 2008 2:36PM]

ha!

[Funke, Tobias Dr. @ Jul 8th 2008 2:41PM]

I say caulk it and see if it floats across a river. Too bad if it doesn't.

[thatrotierkid @ Jul 8th 2008 3:01PM]

little annie died of electrocution

1) give her a proper burial
2) move on

...goddamnit

[Funke, Tobias Dr. @ Jul 8th 2008 3:08PM]

"Here lies little Annie,
Too bad orange was her favourite colour"

[Funke, Tobias Dr. @ Jul 9th 2008 1:49AM]

Here's the explanation to my obscure joke:
High voltage cables in cars are typically covered in bright orange casings.

Then again, maybe it just wasn't funny. Either way, I'll take it.

[yode @ Jul 8th 2008 2:30PM]

On them white-wall tires, with them white-wall rims...

[natels @ Jul 8th 2008 2:32PM]

78K for a car that goes 62 miles a charge.. Might as well buy some sort of hybrid and use the other 40+ K for gas..

[Interpol @ Jul 8th 2008 2:33PM]

Pontiac Aztek, meet the Mindset Six50. Don't you just love family reunions?

[superfresh @ Jul 8th 2008 2:34PM]

Good to see the El Camino making a comeback.

[donkamero @ Jul 8th 2008 2:48PM]

Ye, so why is it that all these concepts for electric cars are always so ugly? I'm sure there must be a car designer somewhere in this world that can design a car with the required space that still looks even close to normal.

[phanbouy @ Jul 8th 2008 2:52PM]

normal is as oppressively boring and nonfunctional as this design is ugly.

[donkamero @ Jul 8th 2008 3:15PM]

I wasn't suggesting that they should never challenge the boundaries of design (I am a designer and would be silly to suggest such a thing), but they shouldn't be challenging the boundaries of their consumers taste.

I wouldn't exactly say that 'normal' was nonfunctional, that doesn't really make any sense. Also the use of 'oppressively' is kind of out of context there. Seems like you were just throwing in large words in an attempt to give value to a mundane point.

[phanbouy @ Jul 8th 2008 3:20PM]

not mundane at all... 95% of all the criticism of super-efficient car design on engadget is of the "i just want it to look like a normal car!!!111!" variety with about zero appreciation for the functionless design of most behemoths on the road today

[donkamero @ Jul 8th 2008 3:46PM]

This car hardly falls into the category well-designed cars in terms of aerodynamics and/or aesthectics. Besides, a super-efficient car does not have to be poorly designed to add to it's efficiency, does it? As I said previously, I am sure there must be a car designer somewhere that can come up with a good design for an electric car that doesn't look a mess.

Anyway, if 95% of the criticism is based on the external design of these cars, maybe that proves that they still haven't got it right? My criticism of it's LOOKS have nothing to do with how it performs or how inefficient our current fuel systems are, which is what you really seem to be harping on about. Regardless of all that, the car is still ugly!

Everyone has their own tastes, but I find it hard to believe that you think this car looks better than what is available now.

Oh and by the way, I think you meant consideration, not appreciation.

[phanbouy @ Jul 8th 2008 3:56PM]

the whole "if 95% of the criticism is based on the external design of these cars, maybe that proves that they still haven't got it right?" to me just shows that most people are too busy buying into the nonstop billions of dollars of ad revenue that convinced us that a certain look was desirable.

when i'm out on the freeway, i see a sea of ugliness. but maybe that's just because i'm into motorcycles, bicycles, or anything besides the glut of faceless sedans and SUVs smogging our air.

anyway, i was giving a caveat in general, not about this car, as should've been obvious.

[donkamero @ Jul 8th 2008 4:15PM]

Well I'm from the UK where SUV's and huge sedans really don't sell all that many, and I certainly don't believe them to look good either. I also don't see how this looks any better or even any different for that matter.

We tend to see smaller more efficient cars on our roads in Britain, mostly due to the cost of fuel. Our cost of fuel IS actually ridiculous, we pay (at the moment) $2.50 per LITRE (which is actually expensive, unlike what is regarded as being expensive in the US, what is it $3.50 to the gallon?). So I imagine that you would not see so many 'behemoths', as you put it, over here.

It really doesn't matter whether your comment was about this car or not, my comment was based on ALL of these designs for electric powered cars. All of the designs are, quite frankly, very poor.

[thedesolate1 @ Jul 8th 2008 2:39PM]

Cant any1 take some hints from tesla????? these fugly concepts are bullshit... It seems like they are all just vaporware and nobody is serious about this because they make concepts that no1 in their right mind will buy.

[retro77 @ Jul 8th 2008 2:40PM]

Got some junk in the trunk

[EricR @ Jul 8th 2008 2:51PM]

Except their junk is actually... junk.

[Idlemind @ Jul 8th 2008 2:41PM]

Awesome Transport....

For my coffin

to my Solar Funeral....

[phanbouy @ Jul 8th 2008 3:21PM]

i just got 2 or 3 band name ideas there

[PrimeOne @ Jul 8th 2008 2:48PM]

This sucker's electrical, but I need a nuclear reaction that creates photon bombardment to generate the 1.21 jigawatts of electricity I need to go 88 miles per hour!