As Elon Musk steps away, yet again, from the idea of a $25,000 Tesla, lets take this opportunity to zoom out and appreciate what a truly affordable EV can be. For this we need to ignore the Nissan Leafcurrently the cheapest EV in the US at $29,280and skip over Europe, home to the adorable but flawed $10,000 Citroen Ami, and head to China. <\/p>\n
Here youll find the equally cheap BYD Seagull, a small electric hatchback styled by ex-Lamborghini designer Wolfgang Egger and with a 200-mile rangefour times that of the Ami. <\/p>\n
But what if even that is too expensive? Then allow us to present the Zhidou Rainbow. This is a compact city EV priced from 31,900 yuan before subsidiesthat's just $4,400. For a new electric car. WIRED literally recommends ebikes that cost more that this. <\/p>\n
The Rainbow has three doors and four seats, and an interior with a 5-inch digital driver display and a 9-inch touchscreen for the infotainment system. Theres even a connected smartphone app, charge scheduling, and the promise of over-the-air (OTA) software updates. <\/p>\n
Splash out on the flagship Color Cloud Edition (which costs $5,800, or about half the price of Porsches fanciest bicycle) and you can have each panel of your Rainbow painted a different color. A bit like Volkswagen did with the somewhat mad Polo Harlequin in the mid '90s. <\/p>\n
There are two models on offer. The first has that headline $4,400 price tag and is powered by a 20-kW (27-horsepower) motor with 85 Nm (63 ft-lbs) of torque and fed by a tiny 9.98-kWh battery. Spend 39,900 yuan ($5,500) and your Rainbow is fitted with a 30-kW (40-horsepower) motor with 125 Nm of torque and a 17-kWh battery pack. Range is between 78 and 127 miles using Chinas generous CLTC testing standard. <\/p>\n
Be under no illusion here, these are tiny numbers. Even the larger battery is the same capacity of that of a plug-in hybrid Honda CR-V, which also employs a 2.0-liter engine to help it get around. But the range isnt terrible. Even if the testing standard is generous, and the larger battery has a more realistic range of 100 miles, thats about the same as the Honda e, which cost a whopping 37,000 ($46,000) before it went off sale at the end of 2023. <\/p>\n
There are two Rainbow models: One powered by a 20-kW (27-horsepower) motor fed by a tiny 9.98-kWh battery; and a pimped 30-kW (40-horsepower) motor version with 17-kWh battery. <\/p>\n
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As Elon Musk Abandons the $25K Tesla, This EV Costs Just $4400 - WIRED<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As Elon Musk steps away, yet again, from the idea of a $25,000 Tesla, lets take this opportunity to zoom out and appreciate what a truly affordable EV can be. For this we need to ignore the Nissan Leafcurrently the cheapest EV in the US at $29,280and skip over Europe, home to the adorable but flawed $10,000 Citroen Ami, and head to China. Here youll find the equally cheap BYD Seagull, a small electric hatchback styled by ex-Lamborghini designer Wolfgang Egger and with a 200-mile rangefour times that of the Ami. Continue reading