[ReignOfError]

The car will have a 624-cc petrol engine generating 33 bhp of power. It will sport a 30-litre fuel tank and 4-speed manual gearshift. The car will come with air conditioning, but will have no power steering. It will have front disk and rear drum brakes. The company claims mileage of 23 km per litre.

Translation to English units: That's about an 8 gallon tank and about 54 mpg. at 33 BHP, even with an extremely low curb weight, you're probably looking at a top speed of 40 mph. Honestly I wouldn't want to drive any vehicle much faster than that n Indian roads.

My question: Why mess around with the 33HP, 0.6L gas engine? You'd get more bang for the buck with an electric motor and batteries of about the same weight and displacement.

For years now, I've toyed around with the idea of an electric car for short jaunts around town, with a real car for road trips. The price of electric cars has been the sticking point. $2500 is getting a lot closer to what I would pay for a car that's useful for a short commute and nothing else.

[-YYZ-]

“even with an extremely low curb weight, you’re probably looking at a top speed of 40 mph.”

I seriously doubt it. A car that small (in terms of frontal area), it probably wouldn’t take much more than about 15 HP to push it along at 60 mph. Maxed out, I’d say about 75-80 mph. Any kind of hill or headwind would seriously cut into that, though, and acceleration would be pretty dismal. I wouldn’t want to drive it on our highways, but in a country where things move more slowly in general, it’d probably be OK.

[CarrotAndStick]

For years now, I've toyed around with the idea of an electric car for short jaunts around town, with a real car for road trips. The price of electric cars has been the sticking point. $2500 is getting a lot closer to what I would pay for a car that's useful for a short commute and nothing else.

http://www.revaindia.com/

[Cardhu]

If you are willing to pay $30,000, check out the Aptera Electric Car with a 120 mile range on a few hours charge.

[Cronos]

$2500 is getting a lot closer to what I would pay for a car that's useful for a short commute and nothing else.

Exactly -- more power to you, save gas for when you need it -- I got no problem with a gigantic SUV when you need it, for long trips or off-road or hauling stuff, but to go 10/15 miles to pick up a carton of milk? That's where this little thing would be useful.