Sometimes we may come across as anti electric car. We are not. We are in favor of basics. We believe in less is more, because less has a lower footprint in carbon, cost and maintenance. The opportunity we are focused on is that of simplicity. There is a cost to everything. Today every car has features which some of us will never use but that still have a cost. There is a material cost and a fuel cost; it is not uncommon for cars to carry around 200 lbs in wiring.
Today we face limited natural resources and widespread environmental challenges. In a time of crisis you stock up on the basics. You get what you know you need. Cars with looming energy supply problems are no different. It is in this context that we have distilled our car to the absolute minimum and end up with a very light and safe car. It is the basics that make it possible to get good performance from a one or two cylinder engine. When you make changes of the scale we are embracing then suddenly every part become smaller: smaller in weight, smaller in production time and smaller in cost.
Think about it. For a car our size you can get an engine and transmission that might cost $3000, lasts for decades, can be worked on by any mechanic – in a car that gets 100mpg, without issues of range. So the idea of spending $6000 or more for a battery pack with a life that is, at most, just half the life of the car…
It is our opinion that there is a need for the simple car – the back to basics car. A car built of fewer materials. A car that is less expensive to build, to buy and to run. A car that is not for everyone but that may just be for a very large number of people who want to save money, or maybe help save the planet.