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Certainly better at cornering than my original or lithium Corbin Sparrow, but still seemed to be almost lifting a wheel in that shot towards the end. I can pop up one of my lithium Sparrow front wheels on just about any corner if I want to. :shock: Would have enjoyed putting my i-MiEV through that track course!

Edit: Must note that my Sparrow center of gravity is way higher than this Elektra Meccanica Solo shell. Also, to see what happens, he is quite skilled and was probably pushing the limits in a nice closed and relatively safe environment.
 
Saw that myself and wondered about the 3-wheel stability and how it compares to say a design with the 2 wheel in the back and one in front.
 
Two wheels up front is MUCH more stable. When cornering, the weight shifts to one of the front corners, and a reverse trike like the Sparrow has tires there. A vehicle like the Reliant Robin doesn't, and tends to roll pretty easily.
 
The dealer where I bought Bear sells Morgans (though they're gas-powered). Toyota and Morgan are taking over the Mitsubishi portion :? , doesn't really bother me as I have a local option. Either way, they are cool little machines.
 
misterbleepy said:
Just in case you didn't know - there's an electric Morgan 3-wheeler due very soon:
http://www.morgan-motor.co.uk/ev3/
Yes, I had been following it - probably a very expensive, but cool, toy. Can't help but think that it has wimpy regen. I, for one, would love to see front-wheel-drive on a three-wheeler, like the direction Aptera was going in... (besides, I'm biased, having driven my heavily-front-end-weighted FWD Saab for almost 50 years).

One of the questions that invariably stumps salespeople is to ask what percentage of maximum power does regen provide? With the i-MiEV, that number is roughly 125A/155A = 81%, which is HUGE, and yet I wish it were stronger to better enable one-foot driving. Probably a limitation caused by our small motor. Eliminating creep would help, as regen disables and creep kicks in on the i-MiEV around 9mph. On the Tesla the number isn't all that much (30%?), but with its huge motor it's enough to be very good!

Back on topic, wonder what the regen is like in the SOLO?
 
Announcement re: the SOLO:

"We are now only 2 days away from the grand introduction of the beautiful 2017 Electra Meccanica SOLO! After many years of development and hard work, I’m here to tell you that the results are nothing short of spectacular. I’m so proud of our Team!

If you are in the Vancouver area, you can visit us this Saturday and Sunday at the Luxury & Supercar Show, where we will be pleased to show you the SOLO in real life! On Saturday, September 10th at 3:30 pm, a special live auction of the VERY FIRST Electra Meccanica SOLO will take place, with the proceeds benefitting Mount St. Joseph’s Hospital, which is a favourite charity of the Supercar show. SOLO #00001 will be the first vehicle to be auctioned off during this prestigious event. If any of our existing SOLO reservation holders wishes to make a winning bid for the first car produced, we will be pleased to move your order, and colour, up to that position. And you will have a genuine collector car for sure!! Should this opportunity be of interest to you, please contact either myself or Lorenzo. We can assist in taking your bids by phone.

If you are not in the Vancouver area, you can watch the Official SOLO unveiling on our website (http://www.smallev.com) this Friday. It’ll still be exciting!

SOLO Compliance Certification has already begun, and we’ll inform the SOLO world as the process continues for the US, Canada, Europe and elsewhere. Deliveries to customers are expected to commence before the end of this year, and I’m hoping for significant numbers within the next 12 months. SOLO is as much fun to build as it is to drive!!"
 
JoeS said:
One of the questions that invariably stumps salespeople is to ask what percentage of maximum power does regen provide? With the i-MiEV, that number is roughly 125A/155A = 81%, which is HUGE, and yet I wish it were stronger to better enable one-foot driving.
If you drive in B mode all the time you get very used to the 'power' of the regen and the braking it provides - We've been 'one footing' it for more than 4 years. Once you learn when to lift, you can slow to 9 MPH most all of the time without the need for friction brakes. It's probably our favorite feature of the car

I've seen 3 and 5 wheeled (one front wheel) dump trucks in Korea . . . . sometimes tipped over beside the road with their contents spilled. You can perfect three wheels as much as possible but ultimate stability is never going to compare to a 4 wheeler. The only reason I can see for designing something with only three wheels is that in most places they are classified as motorcycles and in many countries that enables the use of a much cheaper drivers license and insurance

Don
 
InsideEV's take on the SOLO: http://insideevs.com/2017-electra-meccanica-solo-debuts-100-miles-range-from-15500/
 
Neat looking little . . . . motorcycle!!

At $15K, I don't see it being a big seller, just as the original Corbin Sparrows weren't - They were reasonably good buys used at 1/2 or 1/3rd the original price. No A/C, no airbags, no passenger and I'd really hate to be in one when it gets hit . . . . but there won't be any crash tests because . . . . it's a motorcycle

Very sharp looking rig though and I'm sure it will find a place with a certain element of the population no matter the price, much as our little iMiEV's have. Our cars are 10X more practical, but they haven't really caught on either, have they? Still, I think the Solo builders would be tickled if they one day sell half as many as the total iMiEV North American sales - That would keep them in business for awhile

Don
 
Notice they kept the single door (on the right side), and the fit and finish of this prototype looks good. From an overall size and safety standpoint the shorter SmartED has this beat but costs $10,000 more. We plan to drive up to BC in the next couple of months and I'll try to stop by Elektra Meccanica and perhaps take a test drive, primarily to contrast the handling with the Corbin Sparrow as well as see just how their regen is implemented.
 
Another vehicle in this category is the Arcimoto SRK, with a base price of $11,900 before incentives:

https://www.arcimoto.com/

arcimoto-srk-8-2-1.jpg


It has optional sides and doors, and it has two battery pack options. Dual motors gives it torque vectoring.
 
Update and CBC News Story:

http://electrameccanica.com/category/blog/

http://www.cbc.ca/i/caffeine/syndicate/?mediaId=767223875894
 
Interesting. The CEO calls it a 'car' though out the interview. "It's been designed and engineered as a world compliance car" - Until he admits that he went on the ferry as a motorcycle. First on, first off and you pay motorcycle rates

Why 3 wheels instead of 4? There is only one answer there and it's not handling or ease of backing or parking. It's a motorcycle which means no crash testing, no roll over testing, no airbags or other safety features which by law must come as standard on every 'car' sold in every country around the world - 3 wheels gives you a pass on all of that. Depending where you live, you may very well have to wear a helmet to drive this 'car'

Don
 
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