Electra Meccanica is the electric division of the formerly Italian (now based in Canada) automaker InterMeccanica and best known for its trademark Roadsters. The electric division has been working on its next generation single-seater three-wheeler EV, the SOLO, for a while now and it aims to bring it to market in limited production by the end of the year.
It looks like the company is making progress and this week Electra Meccanica released a quick sneak peek of the SOLO’s chassis.
The automaker has some ambitious specs for the SOLO:
- Top speed: 87 mph (140 km/h)
- Acceleration: 0-100 km/h in 8 seconds
- Range: 100 miles (160 km) on a single charge
- Charging time: 3 hours at 220v, 6 hours at 110v
- Price: USD$15,000 (~CAD$20,000)
The range might be a bit optimistic considering the company plans to equip the vehicle with only a 8.64 kWh battery pack, but the SOLO has the potential to have very low drag and Electra Meccanica is aiming for it to weight only 450 kg (~1,000 lb).
Here’s the sneak peek (vertical video alert!):
From March 16th to 22th, you can stop by Electra Meccanica’s headquarters in Vancouver (102 East 1st Avenue, Vancouver V5T 1A4) to check out the chassis.
The company is opening up 120 Alpha Series units for reservation with a $250.00 refundable deposit.
The company shared a few pictures and renderings on its website:
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
The general idea is good, but there are two major problems with this: 1- winter driving would be very dangerous (especially when only 2 tracks are snow free), 2 – the price is still too high for a 1 seater (consider a 2 seater).
Three wheeled cars are a bad idea for anything else than perfect road conditions.
winter driving is FUN! Well actually more like a ‘brown trouser’ ride. I own a pre WW2 Morgan 3-wheeler.
I would love to have one of these. We don’t get much snow these days. Looks a lot better than the Leccy Morgan.
Way Cool!! They followed almost everything I told them to do!! It is a far better than the Sparrow they started with!
Yves, that isn’t true. The rear wheel actually works well in the center track in snow from people who drive them in it. I’m in Fla so have no experience but many others do.
And designed right like this unit is, handles as well as a car now they have fixed the CG placement, height, weight problem the Sparrow had.
In snow, all other cars will “dig” two tracks and leave a mound in the middle. The power wheel will always be on that mound, loosing traction, and have a tendency to “fall” on either side. In addition, the width (distance between the front wheels) will prevent the front tires from gaining stability by being too narrow and not follow the tracks dub by all other cars. Looks like speeds above 50km/h will be hazardous. I’ll way to see real world experience, but looks like this is limited to southern locations (I’m in Canada). Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of a small economic electric based transportation, but this concept is flawed. Get the same idea with 4 wheels and 2 seats, and I’ll get interested.