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Comment by kjkjadksj | Hacker News Reader

I would love a lower end rickshaw/golfcart tier small ev. It would be great for trips and errands around town you could do on lower speed roads. I don’t need a 5000lb behemoth.

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Something like this? I just saw this somewhere this week, maybe even here. Dropping links below...

https://www.squadmobility.com/

https://electrek.co/2022/12/06/squad-solar-electric-city-car...

> Squad Regular Production PRE ORDER 50.00 €

Am I missing something?

Oh, I see in the text below:

> Regular production Squad. Price estimation €6250 ex. tax.

Is this a common thing with EU sales pages, or are they just being extra weird?

Citroen Ami

https://www.citroen.co.uk/ami

...and seating a family of 4. Top speed 30, maybe 40 mph, range of 20, I'm in the market.

I own a cargo bike, and it's great mostly, alas not when the weather is inclement.

I think what you’re looking for is an older used Nissan leaf

Something like this? https://urbanarrow.com/business-bikes/cargo/

This is a two-wheeler without any protection from weather. But it's about the right weight class.

For protection from the elements there are things like the Veemo[1], I guess compared to the tiny EVs you do get a little exercise too (but you have even less collision protection, not much different from riding a normal bike).

1: https://veemo.ca/

Bikes are a place where weight matters more than in a small car, at least for the user. Although I guess some ebikes have motors that don't require pedaling.

I have one, and they are as great as you expect. Used 2013 Nissan Leaf's can be had for $5k or less.

Death trap on American roads, unfortunately.

My problem is, if EV is not going to work for 100% of my use cases, I need a second car. But if I need a second car then it doesn't make sense to overthink the EV, any will do. What would be really awesome is if I could have one car and swap the power train easily, but that's just fantasy talk.

Hiring a car for specific trips is probably much better, depending on the % of those use cases. That goes for other factors like towing capacity too.

Cars are already very expensive for something with such a low utilisation rate.

Towing actually seems in practice an awful place for renting. Use case is taking kids trailer camping: UHaul at least offers only trucks with (a) single row seating, and (b) no brake controller. Even if spouse did drive, the lack of the brake controller is a showstopper.

If someone knows where I can rent a crewcab with RV brake controllers, I'm all ears. I'd love to not have to own a tow vehicle.

There's the Arcimoto FUV. I'd consider it a step up from golfcart/rickshaw as it's meant to go at highway speeds, but it's much smaller/lighter than a regular car.

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