http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/ Engadget Comments for Yves Behar shows off 'hackable' electric car concept for the developing world http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/Feb 25th 2010 10:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/
Dont hold your breath.

Industrial designers churn out this garbage to put in their portfolios so they can pimp themselves as being "green", and caring about those brown-skin folks, to their fellow losers at design conferences.

99.9% of the drawings they generate, STAY as drawings.

]]>Feb 25th 2010 12:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/Feb 25th 2010 4:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/Feb 25th 2010 10:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/
My car is green :')]]>Feb 25th 2010 12:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/Feb 25th 2010 10:56AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/Feb 25th 2010 11:13AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/Feb 25th 2010 12:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/These are designed for the developing world where the road network can be a lot more rough]]>Feb 25th 2010 1:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/Feb 25th 2010 11:15AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/
Agreed... it would go a lot towards making their presentation look more professional if they hired a competent automotive designer. Or pay someone studying to be one $50. ]]>Feb 25th 2010 11:39AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/
I think most of the six-year olds in my class had designed these cars at some point.

I wonder if the designers even consulted with people in developing countries to see if they agreed there was a need for these sorts of vehicles before coming up with their egghead ideas. After all, there are plenty of developing countries where it's difficult to get reliable electricity, rendering a vehicle of this ilk rather useless.]]>Feb 25th 2010 11:58AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/Feb 25th 2010 11:39AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano

Otherwise if Mr.Behar has his way,...this is what he will end up with:
http://www.dancewithshadows.com/one_lakh_car.asp]]>Feb 25th 2010 11:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/Feb 25th 2010 12:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/Feb 25th 2010 12:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/Feb 25th 2010 1:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/Feb 25th 2010 1:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/Feb 25th 2010 1:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/Feb 25th 2010 5:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/Feb 25th 2010 6:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/Feb 25th 2010 6:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/
"Yes, I'm driving a clown car, but because I'm poor, I must be grateful."

C'mon—

I can only guess that Mr. Béhar chose to use his own box of crayons to design this thing.

Or, maybe he made it look so beat so that no one would steal it.]]>Feb 25th 2010 7:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/
~If you're willing to sacrifice range, you can sell an electric car for very little money. The price jumps exponentially with the energy density of the battery pack, so if you can find a market for cars that only go 50 miles to a charge you can sell them for peanuts.

~Very low maintinence makes them a good idea for the developing world. Villages in Nigeria, Uganda, etc. are littered with the wrecks of internal combustion engine vehicles because having them serviced isn't an option. Electric motors are famously durable and long-lived. Only one moving part means the drive train is extremely simple, and there's no fans, timing belts, transmission or dozens of other parts that can break, as in a combustion engine vehicle.

~Plentiful batteries, and experience with using them. In case you're not familiar with how people in third world nations keep their cell phones charged (and yes, a remarkable percentage of them have cell phones) it's typically with lead acid batteries, salvaged from junked cars. They also sometimes salvage the alternators from cars to build pedal/wind generators with, rather than pay to have their batteries charged from the nearest location with a connection to the grid. At any rate they already have the batteries and understand how to build simple charging systems from salvaged automotive parts.

~Lack of paved roads makes the low speed of cheap electric cars a non-issue. If your electric car only needs to go 25mph, you can get away with a much smaller motor, fewer batteries, and a lower price. A simple runabout powered by "recovered" lead acid car batteries, a 1kw DC motor that goes only 25mph could be sold for about what a used gas scooter would cost.

For those in a position to afford powered transportation in the first place, being able to cover 50 miles a day without relying on gas (which is not always in reliable supply and which fluctates frequently in price) or worrying about maintinence would be a godsend. ]]>Feb 25th 2010 8:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/ Villages in Nigeria, Uganda, etc. are littered with the wrecks of internal combustion engine vehicles because having them serviced isn't an option.

Every village mechanic from Azerbaijan to Bangkok knows how to repair a basic internal combustion engine. The reliability of old gasoline Corollas, diesel Hiluxes, or Honda Cubs is legendary.

> Plentiful batteries

Sorry to let you in on the news, but most countries in Southeast and South Asia, rural residents have easier access to gasoline/diesel than to electricity - internal combustion generators most often power those lead acid batteries that you're so fond of. And you really have no idea how inefficient pedal/wind-powered electric cars is. How many miles do you think a guy would have to pedal on his generator to go a few hundred feet on his electric car?!?]]>Feb 26th 2010 1:23AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/yves-behar-shows-off-hackable-electric-car-concept-for-the-dev/
You seem to have confused me for an environut. I don't care that the energy would come from burning gasoline. Hell, if you strapped that generator to a 2-wheeled trailer you'd have a handy range extender for long trips, but you wouldn't need to haul that weight with you on shorter ones. Unlike an automotive engine, the ICE in a generator can run a a constant speed it was optimized for rather than having to throttle up and down frequently, which means vastly better fuel economy. That's why diesel-electric trains actually use electric motors to drive the wheels, and onboard diesel generators to provide the power.

I wasn't aware that ICE mechanics were so plentiful, but is that really better than never needing mechanic in the first place? When you're offering these things in aid packages, you want something robust that never needs servicing. We can argue all day about what the best power source is, but at the end of the day electric motors don't care how you power them. They're fuel-agnostic. If you wanted to be silly, you could even hook up a steam boiler with a trailer full of firewood or something. Fuel cells? Batteries? Generators? Same diff. Divorcing the energy source from the motor makes any vehicle future proof, as it can be adapted to run on whatever you can come up with. ]]>Feb 26th 2010 1:33AM