The amount of views or reads of Twizy newswires is not that high, but the Twizy is selling well outside USA. So why is that? Its less expensive to purchase, and a fun EV to drive.
[Corrections, comments, etc. welcome] I look at the Twizy as ... well not much to look at (its French), but there must be a reason they chose that look (less expensive to manufacture, safer, etc.). Twizy EV drivers do not seem to care what it looks like, they just enjoy them. Years ago the Sparrow (then NMG) EV was a single seat highway speed capable EV. But they did not modify its design much to the extent that the cargo was changed to suit consumer need. Corbin did modify the Sparrow for the then Dominos Pizza delivery EV idea (pizza butt), but that never went anywhere/for any real high sales. But the original Twizy design sold well, and the company came up with this modified version to accommodate another use (taking out the back seat, making the Twizy cargo a 1seat EV, and adding a rear hatch). This isn't that much gain in cargo space, but enough to gain interest. Add the rear trailer-train (making it a 6wheel EV) and the Twizy cargo can now be a more serious delivery EV at a low cost. This is all well and fine but there won;t be any in the U.S. Why not? Several reasons, and IMO archaic U.S. regulations about what vehicles are allowed on U.S. roads. The Twizy and Twizy cargo can go up to 50mph. I have not seen any serious Twizy crash reports, so its design is not comparable to the C-car of years ago David mentioned. But at 50mph, it would not likely be welcome on U.S highways. But I still see a market for this type of medium speed EV, if only it was not hard/difficult to allow them on U.S. roads. There was a bill in CA to allow medium speed EVs that could go up to 45mph, see http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/13-14/bill/asm/ab_0201-0250/ab_225_cfa_20130620_115111_sen_comm.html Perhaps someone ones what happened to that (did it pass?). 45mph is so much better than de-tuning a Twizy to the 25mph nEV speed so that it can be sold in the U.S. In parts of CA, there are three main tiers of roads: highways (55-75mph), expressways (40-55mph), and regular streets (25-35mph). More often than not, to get from point A to B, one has-to drive on either an expressway or highway to efficiently get there (taking city streets would bog down with traffic clogs). Example: On my regular VA Hospital visits, I have to try to get around the heavy traffic by taking a main road to a highway. More often than not (depending on the time of day), the closest highway exit is clogged with commuters trying to get or leave work (lots of Silicon-Valleyite Tesla-S, Leaf, and i3 EVs seen on the road). So, I keep driving to the next exit a few miles away, and then back track on an expressway to get to where I need to go. If I had a Twizy, and were allowed on expressways (but not highways), it would not be that hard to get where I need to go. Instead of taking that highway, I would instead take a somewhat parallel expressway. But because the Twizy (or any EV that is not highway speed capable) would be categorized as a nEV, I would not be able to use the expressway, and would -only-be allowed on the clogged city-streets (it would take twice as long to get to and from where I need to go). That traffic hardship is a limitation for nEV sales, especially for the business sales market Twizy cargo designers were targeting. I give the business example of Odwalla (a fresh juice company, that Coca-Cola snapped up), or another company that has a small amount of light cargo that it wants deliver or restock. BTW, companies like Coca-Cola are making a effort to use EVs in their business, so kudos to them for doing that. On that expressway I have to double back on is one of CA's major grocery chains, Safeway. I could see if a Twizy cargo with a trailer-train were categorized as a medium speed EV that was allowed up to 45mph, companies like Odwalla could use these Twizy EVs to drive on expressways and city-streets to make their deliveries to businesses. But, Renault is not selling in the U.S., and even if Renault wanted to sell the Twizy in the U.S. (or any other company wanting to sell a similar EV), U.S. regulations are just too much of a hurdle to overcome. So when I post Twizy newswires, it is for the large Twizy driver base in several countries to enjoy reading, and for U.S. readers to question way our laws are so archaic and holding us back. For EVLN posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ http://www.evdl.org/archive/index.html#nabble+template%2FNamlServlet.jtp%3Fmacro%3Dsearch_page%26node%3D413529%26query%3DEVLN%2Bbrucedp2%26days%3D0%26sort%3Ddate {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/Re-EVLN-Twizy-Cargo-low-cost-sure-fire-way2-get-your-company-noticed-tp4673612p4673620.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
