Given just how difficult it has been for even
Chevrolet to get its
all-electric gears going, we kind of wondered if we'd ever hear more about the Wheego Whip after it quietly faded earlier this year. Lo and behold, the low-speed city car has made an appearance at AltCar 2009, and after receiving about
100 orders, it seems the car is all but ready to begin pleasing those who shelled out just under 20 large for the privilege of a pink slip. Our good pals over at
Autoblog Green were able to zip around in the car recently and serve up some impressions of the drive, and while it didn't seem to live up to the "Cadillac of neighborhood electric vehicles" claim, it definitely got the job done... at 25 miles per hour. Hit the read link for a gallery of shots and a fresh take on what a whisper quiet, low-speed driving experience is like.
Why does it look so much like a ForTwo?
Actually, Mr Darren Murph, you are COMPLETELY wrong. The GEMcar (classified as a NEV, or Neighborhood Electric Vehicles, which would be in the same class as the Wheego Whip) company is owned by Chrysler and has been out for YEARS, so it's not been "hard" for a company to get it out at all. Also, the GEMcar costs LESS THAN HALF (probably close to one third) of what this one does, and gets the job done just the same, but if you get the GEMcar e6, it holds 6 passengers and still comes to only about $15K - less than the price of this one, but can carry 3 times as much.
how did this car even leave the drawing board?
Designer: We have a car, the only problem is, it can only go as fast as 25 mile/h
CEO: whatever, we are only doing it for the government incentives...
result: overpriced golf kart
I believe the market will take care of this one for us.
Next!
KIRF Smart
So basically you're paying a $15,000 or so premium for something that goes slightly faster than a golf cart, but with more environmentally unfriendly plastic.
I need to get into this green car business.
When I see that car .... all I can think is...
"I am a Barbie car, in a Barbie woooorld,
life in plastic is fantastic.
You can press my press my pedal, won't take you anywheeeere,
Global warming imagination is to blame for my creation..."
***Batteries NOT included. All pieces sold separately. ****
Cracked me out completely. Genius!
Most cars are plastic, nowadays. Even Hummers have loads of plastic.
An electric car that sucks. How unsurprising.
So it's a rebadged Smart car with an electric engine.......so ?
Possibly the ugliest thing known to man
There's one way they can make this work:
1. Paint car all white.
2. Slap an apple logo on it.
3. Call it the 'iCar' and raise price to $50,000
You'll have wannabe iHipsters from all over lining up outside car dealerships for the privilege of overpaying for something underpowered.
Who needs range or speed or convenience? At least you would look cool in it going 25mph... and the range would be extended after the load has been lightened from taking all your money to buy it in the first place. WOO!!!
/end sarcasm
Just slap a glowing Apple logo on it and you got iCar pro.
Need a cheaper verson, just paint white vanilla iCar
Here in the UK we have an electric 2 seater car called the G Whizz, also similarly slow as this. The G Whizz is downright dangerous. It's too small to see over another car, so you don't know it's there, and it' so slow that it causes tailbacks. The most dangerous thin is that it is slow to accelerate at a green light, which means drivers think that the petrol car behind has actually broken down, go to overtake and squash the G Whizz.
Please, do not refer to the frog-like G-Wiz as a car. It is in fact a quadricycle - which is why it doesn't come with any airbags.
I'm considering setting up a bounty for every time someone destroys one. Squashing it sounds hilarious :D
If any of the things you mention are true or happen, it's your fault.
Why isn't the recharging port in the front, where it actually makes sense?
Because if the charger (and decal) were on the front, people passing you couldn't tell you were in an environmentally friendly electric car, thus defeating one of the main reasons (making gullible people feel better about themselves) that someone would pay $20,000 for a glorified golf cart.
Has anyone seen "Who Killed The Electric Car?"
The auto industry knows that an electric car is perfectly viable, but they don't want to really embrace this because of what it would do to their business. I'm not sure what this low speed - low range vehicle is all about, but it's clearly doing its job of convincing people that electric vehicles are a bad idea.
I know what killed the electric car.
Physics.
http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060626/SUB/60623068/-1/TOCARCHIVE&refcat=
Who will kill the electric car? The consumer. Who killed the more efficient, already feasible (and ready in some cases) hydrogen car? Government.
http://www.hydrogencarsnow.com/
25 miles per hour?
This shouldn't be street legal unless it drives in the bicycle lane. If some jerk drove this in a 35 or 45 I'd want to push him off the road.
Seriously, people have been killed for less.
And why is it taking so long to get a frikn' plug-in electric car to the masses??? GM had one in 1990's; the EV1. Even though they have disposed of, I am sure those plans are still around!
There is more to this delay than we know. At best, it a case extreme stupidity and at worse, a conspiracy. My personal opinion is that they are stalling so Oil companies can make more money.
This is starting to get absurd.
My Trek racing bike is faster... And it's more earth friendly. :p
I was just about to give you shit all over the place Darren Murph... however, this "car" really is* called, Whip.
So, yea, good for you, one instance where you are, pretty fly for a white guy.
I'm good with this thing. More than half the streets in my city have a 25mph speed limit.
Am I the only person here who thinks a Wheego Whip sounds like a dessert that would be served mostly in retirement homes?
That looks just like a Toyota iQ.
To me, it looks like the love child of a Porsche Cayenne and a Smart car.