Heard about it months ago, actually saw one on the road last week. Wouldn't consider buying one: way too expensive combined with no bumpers, no door handles, no keys, not available as a soft-top convertible, no chrome, no spare tire, no radio, no gauges, no ability to get bench seats...I could go on
@thisguy20 It and its "Gravity" stable-mate have only just been developed... but let's examine the maker's web-site.
Outwardly it is a 5-seat saloon car not especially distinguishable from any other battery-electric saloon car of similar size and type.
Inside though....
[u]No gauges?[/u] [i]Oh yes it has![/i] Digital and pictorial - the web-site photographs show a sprawl much greater than I expected, of electronic displays and touch-controls, even for the heating /air-conditioning. You won't see these in motion from outside unless following it in your own car; and they will be off so invisible when the car is stationary and locked.
[i]No keys or door handles[/i].... Some aspects of some all-electric cars are meant to be controlled via your portable 'phone! Maybe this is. At the very least it will have a radio fob, but if with no mechanical lock I think that a mistake because if the fob is lost or broken, or its battery is flat, you cannot open the driver's door and drive it. Presumably the door opens electrically. Ridiculous over-engineering, but attracting the gadget-conscious types who must have everything the latest and as electronically indirect as possible.
[u]No spare tyre.[/u] That is very common now, almost normal even, with both EV and i.c. cars. The fitted, so-called "run-flat tyres", or supplied emergency tyre-filler spray, allow you to reach a tyre dealer, at reduced speed. In both cases the tyre is irreparable and can only be replaced. However, electric cars have to have much heavier-duty tyres than their petrol or diesel equivalents to cope with the vehicles being much heavier than them; and so might be less easily punctured.
Those on this thing will be stronger still to cope with its performance claims that make me question if the range claims are really true, and if so, only by skilled driving obeying the speed limits!
[u]No Chrome trim[/u]. As is normal now. Extra build cost, not necessary; and once water penetrates the plating, the steel soon corrodes and the plating flakes off.
[u]No bumpers.[/u] The front panel might be of plastic, but anyway made to deform to absorb some of the shock of a collision. The days of ostentatious bumpers and lamp trims covered with half an acre of chrome, and designed so whatever they hit comes off the worse even if a human being, are long gone!
Modern cars have to have structural areas that will crumple, considerably reducing the forces transmitted to the occupants. Let's face it, the driver and passengers are each considerably more valuable than even the most expensive car, far harder to repair and in extremis, cannot be rebuilt or replaced.
No bench seat? The photos are not very informative but the rear-view mirror image in one suggests three, perhaps individual, rear seats. The car still seats five people, possibly more comfortably and safely than on a bench-seat, even with everyone wearing their seat-belts. Given the claimed performance the "Air" and "Gravity" might need more sophisticated belts, depending where it is sold, hence different seat types.
[u]No radio? [/u]Oh yes it has, of some sort. See my note above, about displays. The waffle promises [q]The truly immersive listening experience along with enhanced in-car active audio safety features. [/q]. Give them another $2900 and its standard "Surreal sound" becomes "Surreal sound Pro" - whatever all that hyperbole means! Perhaps they don't know what "surreal" actually means......
[i]Soft-tops[/i] are still luxury options, generally, but a glass roof appears to be an option on this car, and that is probably retractable.
