qz.com
>China already sells more electric vehicles than the rest of the world combined. One of the hottest categories in that list is “tiny cars.” These mini-vehicles can cost as little as $1,000 and, in China at least, you don’t even need a driver’s license to use them. The catch? Their top speed is less than 40 miles per hour, they run on cheap lead-acid batteries, and they have little to no crash protection.
>That’s not much of a concern for Chinese users, who are buying these low-speed electric vehicles (LSEVs) like hot cakes.
>Four-year-old electric vehicle maker Kaiyun Motors thinks that it can tempt Americans and Europeans to buy into the craze. “Mini-electric vehicles are more than enough to meet consumers’ daily needs,” Wang Chao, founder of Kaiyun, told Bloomberg (paywall). “There is a huge market out there around the world.”
>Kaiyun will start selling its “Pickman” electric pickup in the US, Germany, and Italy as soon as next month. The base Chinese model sells for 16,800 yuan ($2,500). The US version will start at $8,950, Fox News reports.
>These are not snazzy, high-end vehicles, and their marketing isn’t either. A promotional video for the Pickman features a young, hoodie-wearing Chinese narrator plainly explaining the car’s unique features. The pickup comes in six colors, boasts off-road capability, and can fit a “family of three,” according to the video. It has a range of 120 km (75 miles) on a single charge. The battery takes up to ten hours to charge. The Pickman’s top speed is 45 km per hour (28 miles per hour), and it has a payload capacity of 450 kg.
>For comparison, top-end electric cars like Tesla Model S can go for more than 480 km (300 miles) on a single charge, can fast charge lithium-ion batteries to 100% in 75 mins, and boast top speeds of 240 km per hour (150 miles per hour). The top model costs more than $90,000.
