Nevs

While it’s not an official title, one of the front-runners for the world’s coolest electric microcar has got to be the Swiss-designed and Italian-manufactured Microlino. And thanks to a new version with first-ever air conditioning, it just got even cooler.

In what could either be a sign of the times or perhaps the start of a terrible decision-making chain, that famous $2,000 electric mini-truck I bought from China several years ago has somehow gotten even cheaper.

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) has shared its new energy vehicle (NEV) sales numbers for October, showcasing that EV adoption is at an all-time high, surpassing September 2024, which was the previous record.

Let’s just face it, America. We’ve got a weight problem. No, not that weight problem. It’s the size of the cars. The best-selling vehicles in the US are all of the biggest, heaviest, and most oversized models available. But it doesn’t have to be that way. A new crop of tiny electric cars is changing the game and offering options we’ve never had before. Err, actually, I probably shouldn’t call them “cars”.

Eli Electric, the manufacturer of the popular Eli ZERO electric microcar, announced this morning the opening of reservations in the US.

The US’s electric micro-car market is rather limited compared to Europe and Asia, but the Dutch company Squad Mobility hopes to change that. The startup has announced that its solar-powered EV is now available for pre-order ahead of US entry.

Japan is king of the kei cars, or small-format vehicles designed mostly for urban use. But local startup KG Motors is taking that miniaturization to a whole new level with its one-seater electric car.

Back in early 2021, I set out on a journey to buy an electric mini-truck from China and bring it to the US. Yes, I’m that guy. You may have seen my truck before. After tens of millions of views on its viral videos and articles over the past two years, now it’s time to take a closer look at how my Chinese electric mini-truck has held up. And spoiler alert: some of you folks aren’t going to be happy.

When I first covered the ARK Zero electric microcar, its specs and pricing sounded too good be true. “I’ll believe it when I see it,” I quipped. Well I guess now I have to believe it, as the company says it has begun making deliveries and shared its first on-road photos.

AYRO, an electric mini-truck maker based in Round Rock, Texas, has just announced the start of production at its local factory. The company’s first vehicle, known as the AYRO Vanish, is an electric utility truck with a modular design intended for a wide range of urban uses.

Cars and city living – it’s a complicated relationship. While cars offer the promise of supposed freedom and convenience, they also come with parking nightmares, fuel costs, and the dreaded rush-hour gridlock. But what if there was a middle-ground solution? Enter the low-speed vehicle (LSV).

LSVs are a federally approved class of motor vehicle that are basically the hybrid of car convenience and scooter/bike simplicity. With a healthy and growing car reduction movement in cities, they may be just the answer. Here are some compelling reasons why an LSV could be the perfect fit for you.

The AYRO Vanish, an electric mini-truck designed and built in Texas, has just completed homologation to receive its street-legal status in the US and Canada.

Veteran dune buggy manufacturer Meyers Manx has debuted a new all-electric spin on the vehicle that put its name on the map. During Monterey Car Week, the company introduced the Resorter – a neighborhood electric vehicle (NEV) designed for fun local trips with the entire family.

GEM, a low-speed vehicle (LSV) manufacturer in Anaheim, California, has just released a new app to make it even easier to use those small vehicles. The GEM Go app shows users a map of all roads in their area and highlights the streets with posted speed limits of 35 mph (56 km/h) or lower.

GEM, the company that makes all of those fun-looking people movers you see at places like airports, sports complexes, and hotels, has just launched its new 2024 line of low-speed vehicles (LSVs). And now they’re more “automotive like” than ever.

From the land of lifted trucks comes something a bit more reserved, the AYRO Vanish electric mini-truck. The sub-13 ft. (3.9) mini-truck with a bigger bed than many full-size pickup trucks hails from AYRO’s factory in Round Rock, Texas. And now the small electric utility truck is embarking on a statewide tour to prove its mettle.

Fans of the Microlino, one of the cutest four-wheeled electric vehicles in Europe, will be happy to see that the pint-sized runabout is adding another country to its growing market: France.

Bolivia only has one electric car manufacturer and it’s hard to compare it to the bigger competition. But that’s likely by design, because La Paz-based Quantum Motors is building tiny electric cars built for just three passengers.

Get ready for yet another electric micro-car, this time from a new British startup known as Ark. The recently unveiled Ark Zero is said to be a surprisingly affordable electric micro-car coming later this year.

The Swiss electric microcar Microlino has hit a major milestone as the 1,000th vehicle has finished production at its Turin, Italy-based factory.

In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series on LSVs and electric micro-cars, we discussed the definitions, use cases, and street-legal rules regarding this important class of tiny vehicles. Now in Part 3, the final installment of the series, we’ll look at which street-legal vehicles are actually available in the US.