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Wednesday, March 28, 2007

China enters the golf cart, er, electric vehicle market

Do you have a spare $13k you’re not using right now? According to this link at Edmunds, you can buy a Chinese-designed and -built Flybo electric car for $12,950. Its max speed is 25 mph, which complies with NHTSA guidelines as a LSVs (Low-Speed Vehicles)/NEVs (Neighborhood Electric Vehicles) – otherwise the max speed is 40 mph. It weighs 1799 lbs and measures 103in x 60in x 60in. It can go 70 miles between charges, and has a 8 – 10-hour charge time. So it’s not exactly a Tesla, but neither is the price.

FlyBo electric vehicle NHTSA guidelines for LEVs/NEVs basically require basic safety equipment including lights, windshields, windshield wipers, and seat belts on motor vehicles other than trucks whose maximum speed is between 20 and 25 miles per hour. So, what we have here is strikingly similar to a golf cart with a cool paint job, but it’s a step in the right direction towards affordable electric vehicles.

Related entries in: Power Sources/Controllers |

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at 3/29/2007 1:01:47 PM, Robine said:
When I first saw this I imagined in my mind how far from a 1799 lb car that can only go 40 mph we will end up in the years ahead!

at 3/29/2007 1:18:00 PM, Lightning Rod said:
Hi Why don't you guys do a story on the Tesla? It's from a FREE country and a lot more like the cars most of us would like to drive than this "little brown nugget"... The general public needs to see that EV's don't have to be opressive little 40 mph poop-boxes.

at 3/29/2007 1:19:07 PM, Lee said:
I want one now, it would take care of 99% of my needs. Now if they bring the price down to about half of that it will be a decent priced usable car. $13000 is way too much for a covered golf cart.

at 3/29/2007 1:32:38 PM, Skinnidog said:
Can someone please do the calculation of Kilowatts per Mile and get back to me. I need to know if my drive to the liquor store will cost me more than a 1987 Sonoma Valley Pinot.

at 3/29/2007 1:38:34 PM, Paul R said:
Ah, YESSS!!! Chinese batteries to depend on!!!

at 3/29/2007 3:55:33 PM, ed said:
Down sizing the AMC Pacer, it had to happen at sometime with all the retro cars out now. Not for me.

at 3/30/2007 3:30:32 AM, mcqueen said:
Do a story on the Tesla from a FREE country? Flybo is made in a country with basically capitalisim economy. Checked Tesla price tag, minimum $93000.

at 3/30/2007 5:23:25 AM, Charlie said:
Why not make electrical cars mandatory for inner cities, historical centers etc, that would boost EV development and cup pollution ! Inches ? pounds ? miles ? c'mon guys , try harder and remember these units have been obsolete for 200 years now, everywhere but in the US...

at 3/31/2007 3:52:11 AM, Paul R said:
"Flybo is made in a country with basically capitalisim economy." Well, uh, yeah, if you are willing to ignore the virtually slave labor for most (not all) of the workforce, not to mention the oppressive role of the gov't. on the social side. (I know, I know, U.S. is not so "free" as it once was, either, and Charlie evidently wants to make it less so, but, I don't want to get TOO far into political discussion...) More to my original point, consumers might tolerate present day reliability (lack thereof) of high tech batteries for their cameras and laptops, but, for their CARS??? "Not for me", either!

at 4/2/2007 11:43:22 AM, Lightning Rod said:
China is anything but free. That 95k tag on the tesla is the price of freedom, the limited production numbers, and the fact that it's babe magnet is about 1 million times more powerful than the Flea-bo, or what ever cute name the chineese overlords thought we'd see as non-threatening. :-)

at 4/4/2007 6:40:52 AM, macqueen said:
you guys like and want to ignore the fact that chinese living standard has been raised multiple times compared with its 20 years ago. even free india can''t do this. go to china and take a look before you say something bad. get you and your wife a 95k freedom tesla each, sure you gonna have freedom on the road, not on your loan burden.

at 4/11/2007 5:15:28 AM, klod_pgh_pa said:
This is a cool little car, and with some tweeking, I bet it could run much faster and further. I would like to buy one without the batteries and put my own in. The reason that we are able to get away with English measure is the same reason we are #1 in the world. We are Americans and by that birthright we are right about everything and the top dog on the planet. American Exceptionalism has been lost on the stupid uneducated in this countries and the moronical masses of clueless lefties here in the USA is a prime and shining example of how a free people can be subjugated into a socialist society. Nuff said…

at 4/11/2007 8:17:38 AM, martyh said:
This thing is a good start, a step in the right direction. 40 MPH would cover a lot of people's needs in the U.S., and cut the American selfish thirst for petro fuels. Bring it on! I've been to China and toured the "sweatshops". Trust me, these workers would rather be working in a factory than starving to death as they were under pure communism. Be careful trying to judge their needs and wants through our spoiled western eyes. It's about progress. By opening trade with China, we've made more things more affordable here, and helped them lift themselves out of starvation at an amazing rate. The factory owners over there are already complaining about having to raise wages to retain employees. Quality? Chinese quality is as good as it needs to be to satisfy the importer. It's when the importer cheaps out that quality slips. Put the blame where it belongs. The Chinese can orbit a man around the earth and bring him back, they can build a golf cart on steroids, as long as the importer sets and enforces requirements. Besides, China is a huge military force. Having them economically dependant on us is probably a better idea than trying to maintain a military large enough to be at odds with them.

at 4/11/2007 11:45:29 AM, SOOPERGREENED said:
ISN'T THE 'NEED' FOR MORE THAN ENOUGH POWER WHAT GOT US TO THE GLOBALLY WARMED POINT THAT WE ARE AT TODAY? I SAY RAAH TO ANYONE BUILDING ZEV VEHICLES INCLUDING GOLF KARTS!

at 4/11/2007 8:48:32 PM, reinventing the wheel said:
I drive a 2000 Ford EV Ranger. With a 50 mile range, 4 hr recharge NiMH battery pack and 80 mph top speed. Why was Ford so stupid as to stop making these? I almost bought a NEV but they are very limited in useful applications

at 4/16/2007 2:49:02 PM, AtlantaRod said:
Try a GEM (gemcar . com). It costs less and is in production.

at 4/27/2007 2:13:46 PM, john said:
so many conversions are out there that are so much nicer than this and for cheaper. Mechanically they are so simple too -not going to break-down

at 5/6/2007 8:00:32 AM, LiveOilFree said:
The 1997 EV1 with Panasonic lead-acid batteries (retrofitted after the defective Delco batteries were removed) went up to 110 miles on a charge and beat anything from the line. In quantity production, it would only cost $8,000 to build. Three years defense budgets plus the cost of Bush''s wars would be enough to GIVE AWAY 100 million such EV1 PLUS a solar rooftop system to provide all the electric needed. Our modest 4.2kW solar system provides enough power for two Toyota RAV4-EV (170,000 miles in 4 years) plus all our domestic electric and we still donate about $100 in excess electric credits each year to the grid. Why not let others do the same?

at 5/7/2007 12:31:56 PM, yow said:
where's the pricing, on golf carts there no pricing,on all the web sites useing china for golf carts theres no pricing on any web. site?

at 5/22/2007 10:43:02 PM, seattlecrow said:
Why send more money to the slavelords in China, when we can buy a stoopid SUV and enrich the slavelords here in the USA? You KNOW this jalopy will be made of the crappiest possible materials, like most of the other stuff coming from that country.

at 5/23/2007 1:19:08 AM, EVwatcher said:
Someone asked for a kilowatt calculation. It takes about 5 kwh to fully charge the Flybo. At $08./kwh, that would be $.40 for a full charge that will take you about 80 miles. That's a half-a-cent per mile compared with about $.10 per mile on a car getting 20mpg@$4.00/gallon (which is probably what the price will be in six months).

at 6/28/2007 1:47:30 PM, Commonsense said:
Why buy another car that puts more of us out of work. sending our jobs to china. why not put preasure on our govertment to lower taxes, and regualation. Send the regulation and tax fruitcakes to china.. why not develope an all american or non nafta vehicle. I''m not buying it I''m tired of buying crap from china that doesn''t last. I''m sick and tired of crap! that includes the big names like cisco..ge...gm.. stop charging us premium prices for Chinese junk.

at 10/1/2007 8:08:32 AM, So what about the vehicle? said:
I am reading a lot about the interworking of China, but has anyone purchased one of these vehicles? And, I might add, have any kind of knowledge base to discuss it's pro's and con's. Perhaps that would be a good place to start this discussion site.

at 1/8/2008 7:23:34 PM, Ohjin said:
The worlds cleanest car runs on AIR! Check it out theaircar

at 2/8/2008 8:55:04 AM, Jim Bullis said:
It looks like a great job of fitting a vehicle to the needs of the people. With roads full of bicycles, 25 MPH seems like it is fast enough. Aerodynamic drag is relatively unimportant below 25 MPH. Where most bicyclists have already been mowed down, as in our country, 80 MPH is meaningful. A whole different kind of machine is needed to cover the distances we drive. Aptera recognizes this reality. Miastrada Corp. is also designing a high efficiency vehicle, where very efficient aerodynamic performance is made possible in a narrow vehicle through the use of an articulated wheel system.

at 2/19/2008 3:44:18 PM, A Dose of Reality said:
Enough with the Global Warming crap. Scientific consensus is starting to form that we may be nearing the end of the natural warming cycle we are in. Al Gore is a fraud. Find a new religion if that is what you are looking for. There are other, better reasons to use energy efficiently.

at 2/28/2008 5:09:43 PM, Look Around! said:
Zap cars of Santa Rosa, CA. has been selling a 40 MPH, 3-wheeled electric car in the US for over two years, at around the same price as the Flybo. Take a look on YouTube; there are several dedicated owners with clips posted. Yes, it is more of a hobbyist industry at the moment; even the Tesla will need a higher-than-average interest level (along with amount of disposable income) on the part of the owner. I think that is OK, and only serves to lay the groundwork for success and improve the product. Look at the adoption of radio, the internal combustion automobiles and the home computer- it was the same as I believe the electric car will be. I am in the unique position of working down the street from Tesla and around the corner from a ZAP dealer, so I see both ends of the viability spectrum for electric cars on a weekly basis!

at 3/1/2008 5:09:33 AM, 101TRAVEL said:
WE HAVE 2 FLYBO XFD-6000ZK ELECTRIC CARS AVAILABLE FOR $6,100. + SHIPPING YOU CAN E MAIL US AT 101.TRAVEL@GMAIL.COM

at 6/29/2008 1:23:04 PM, A&J Electric Motorcycles said:
I have electric motorcycles / scooters availiable immediately for prices ranging from $2500 to $4000. Top speeds range from 40 mph to 50 mph. They are DOT approved with VIN#. I can ship anywhere! contact Jared at aandjsnackfoods@verizon.net

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