$19,000 Electric Car Coming to US in May 2009: Introducing the Wheego Whip
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 11.24.08
photo: Cleantech
It looks surprisingly like a Smart Car and frankly has one of the dumbest names I’ve ever come across, but the $19,000 all-electric RTEV (Ruff & Tuff Electric Vehicles) Wheego Whip will be available in the United States in May 2009.
The Wheego Whip can reach a maximum speed of about 70 mph, but until it passes crash tests by the US DoT, expected sometime in 2010, it will be released initially as a Low Speed Vehicle (25 mph maximum speed) or a Medium Speed Vehicle (35 mph max). RTEV says that the Whip can travel 50 miles on single 8-hour charge, from any standard household 110 or 220v outlet.
Sounds like your ideal ride? Read on:
Based Off Chinese Car’s Platform
To manufacture the two-seat Wheego Whip RTEV has partnered with Shuanghuan Automobile Company. Based off Shuanghuan’s existing gasoline-powered Noble, RTEV has designed the car’s drive system, which uses plug-in dry cell sealed (AGM) batteries. The international version of the car—known, far more sensibly, as the E-Noble—will be manufactured in China, while the Wheego Whip will undergo final assembly in the United States.
Adapting Vehicle, Rather Than Designing New, Gave Head Start
RTEV’s CEO Mike McQuary had this to say on why the company chose to partner with Shuanghuan:
What has really impressed us with Shuanghuan is their attention to detail in providing a high-quality fit and finish and smooth ride to the car. Once we locked down the systems and components for a high quality electric drive system, we undertook a global search for a car manufacturer that would meet our expectations of a driving experience that was seamless when compared to its gasoline counterparts. While several car companies that we talked to had solid mechanical systems, it was Shuanghuan that emerged with a commitment to meet the quality standards that American drivers have come to expect in an automobile. Their production of the gas powered Noble gave them a great head start, in that it was more a matter of adaptation of a vehicle, rather than trying to develop something from scratch. They share our vision and see the important potential for the emergence of an electric car as an everyday part of consumer transportation.
More on the Wheego Whip from: RTEV and Cleantech
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And I know just the automakers to build it...
Take that big 3!
Ugh. As much as I think ecars are a neat idea, this one looks like another miss. Spending $19k on a vehicle with no support infrastructure would be enough to stop me right there. AGM batteries are dinosaurs, and do not deal well with deep discharge. Which means to get any decent life out of them you won't want to go below 1/2 charge which means 25 miles, and since manufacturers always inflate their specs this more likely means 15-20 miles. At 25mph. For $19K? Pass. The article did state that after they pass crash tests the max speed could be lifted, but I suspect that the 50 mile range was not computed at highway speed. Driving faster will certainly reduce the range even more.
Decent life for an AGM battery is about four years or less of regular use. Much shorter if they've been subject to deep discharge. This means that pack replacement several times within the lifespan of the car is certain. Even though AGMs are cheap as batteries go, to replace an entire pack will not be cheap. Shipping charges alone are formidable.
One place where the fly-by-night manufacturers always skimp is pack management. On the worst of them there will be long strings of batteries in series that will be charged and discharged as a unit. The weakest battery will be subject to more wear than the rest of the string and will degrade even faster. One bad battery, which usually happens within a relatively short period of time, will render the whole pack useless. The best battery management systems (Toyota, Honda, Tesla) have far more intricate charge and discharge paths and even the ability to isolate defective cells so the pack can still function as long as enough batteries are left to meet the power requirements.
I'm sad to say being a escooter enthusiast I've seen the same pattern over and over again. An overseas manufacturer will come to market with the quickest/dirtiest design, sell a few thousands, and then get out before the problems start to erode profits. You'll see the exact same model a few months later with a different manufacturer's name on it. Lather, rinse, repeat. Until a company is willing to make a serious investment in infrastructure in this country to stand behind the product, these vehicles coming in from overseas should be treated with healthy skepticism.
mehh...looks like another useless electric car idea. When will people understand that if you live in a place where driving 25mph is fast enough, there are probably other more efficient ways to get around.
80mph for 120 miles. Fast recharge: partial or complete. Now we're talking.
25mph and a 50 mile range. It's a golf cart.
I need 55MPH and 40 mile range. This is very close and maybe it could get there if we change the speed rating specs? Even if they raised it to 45 MPH I could use if for my teenager bopping around town and to school. I could also fit 4 cars in my garage, something that's VERY important in the far north. Gas savings wise this would translate into a 1000 dollar a year (at two dollar gas, like that's going to last) savings. The wife gets one (not likely) and we're talking 2000 dollars. Get it a little better and I'd buy it.
sic... thats a TINY car!!! If I'm buy an eletricar, I'm buying the Tesla or Fisker... They look like cars, not over sized golf carts.
and whats with that speed man?? sure it would do great in city traffic... but seriously. 25mph?? the G-whiz goes faster than that.. and thats smaller than this one..
Dude! The name is the best part!
Hey guys, there's this other vehicle you might want to check out. Its top speed is around 25-35mph (similar), it has unlimited range, you can park it anywhere and you can find used ones all over for $100. It does burn fuel, but the fuel is your body fat. Try a bicycle...
Sid said:
"and whats with that speed man?"
That's your tax dollars at work. It's not that they're not capable of going faster than 25 mph, it's that they're forbidden from going faster than 25 mph. You can build a car with a monster engine in it, but until the manufacturer gets it crash tested, you're not allowed to drive it over 25 mph on the street.
I do agree with Mike. The right alternative is the bicycle. Again, this is a so-called urban car. There is no such thing as a urban car. Except when you need to move heavy things (and that's not an everyday activity), the best ways to go from one place to another are public transportation, bicycles and even walking!!!
Electric cars are THE thing for city driving. The range and speed are quite enough and there are several benefits you dont know about until you actually drive one. Try sitting in a traffic jam in an electric vehicle and you realize how great it is not to have to keep turning on and off your engine in stop and go traffic. There is barely any sound there is no smoke, smell or fumes. It is a whole other experience and if something like this is available for 11 grand, which the Xebra is, you have a situation where demand outstrips supply.
The point is do we really have to be sitting in a traffic jam ? The solution is not to have more acceptable traffic jams, it's to gradually get rid of this situation and invent another system. I know it won't be done in a day but we really have to think beyond the car, at least in the city.
Who the hell would want to buy this?
I want an electric vehicle, yesterday! ...but I wouldn't be caught dead in one of these ugly bastards!
One of the tough sells at that price is that for the same amount of money you can buy a used Honda or toyota and convert it to electric and end up with a safer vehicle with a higher top speed.
I might like biking, but I am not willing to bike in the rain when visibility is reduced, or the dead of winter when it's icy so 25 mph in a vehicle would be sufficient IF the roads I have to take to work weren't 40+mph speed limits. A five mile commute at 25mph isn't that intolerable, and far faster than by bike anyway.
Sorry folks, if it is Chinese I want NO part of it.
Even if it is assembled in the US it is certainly not green no matter what kind of refueling options it uses.
It is too small, to slow, too dependent on a plug, and made by a country that is poisoning it's own people.
No thanks.
If I were looking to buy an electric car, I'd wait for the Aptera- approx 120 miles/charge, 80+MPH max speed, and will be built in the US = a winner IMHO. Then again, I'm not going to buy a car any time soon so it doesn't really matter what I think.
Gindy,
That is certainly your right as an American to CHOOSE. I am also really interested and push for domestic production as much as possible as well. Surprisingly, many of the Chinese auto plants are pretty clean environments. And we here in America often "poison our own people" as well. But If not buying a Chinese product is your beef...
I have to say that this article or the Wheego is not revolutionary. Right now you can buy an American-made (from American parts) LSV/MSV from E-Ride or the French/Canadian ZENN Car LSV/MSV from Canada. Those are both quality cars that are in the same price range as the vehicle above and will function in the same capacity.
Do you own a car of any kind Gindy? Surely you don't. Because there's no other way you could make the statement...
"Even if it is assembled in the US it is certainly not green no matter what kind of refueling options it uses.It is too small, to slow, too dependent on a plug"
and be taken seriously.
Gindy,
That is certainly your right as an American to CHOOSE. I am also really interested and push for domestic production as much as possible as well. Surprisingly, many of the Chinese auto plants are pretty clean environments. And we here in America often "poison our own people" as well. But If not buying a Chinese product is your beef...
I have to say that this article or the Wheego is not revolutionary. Right now you can buy an American-made (from American parts) LSV/MSV from E-Ride or the French/Canadian ZENN Car LSV/MSV from Canada. Those are both quality cars that are in the same price range as the vehicle above and will function in the same capacity.
Do you own a car of any kind Gindy? Surely you don't. Because there's no other way you could make the statement...
"Even if it is assembled in the US it is certainly not green no matter what kind of refueling options it uses.It is too small, to slow, too dependent on a plug"
and be taken seriously.
Wow, I can't believe this company is not being sued by Smart for blatant design patent infringement!
A souped up golf cart with lights, seatbelts and mirrors? No thanks.
get the SUVS off the road so people with common sense can get intelligent vehicles...if you aren't part of the solution, you are the problem....we are outdated and outmoded in this country and no amount of money thrown at GM will solve the problem; it will only delay any intelligent modernization of our industries so we can actually compete in the global marketplace instead of protect our industry...which is not capitalism nor free market.....
The performance is a huge miss. The home made conversions at half that price are way better for range speed and safety of size.