The Morgan XP-1 is an eccentric English electric vehicle
arstechnica.com
arstechnica.com
I got rear ended by one of those three wheeled contraptions last year. It was a completely ordinary situation where any normal roadworthy car would have made a stop and avoided an accident. There was plenty of space to stop. But the morgan could not stop. I could hear his tires squealing behind me for what seemed like an eternity before he crashed into me. Of course it did not have antilock brakes (they have been required for cars in the US for about 25 years now). The front wheels were these thin motorcycle tires that had no stopping power. I am not sure the rear wheel even had a brake on it.
My car had some bumper and trunk damage. The morgan was totaled. The Morgan did not have much of a front bumper and took all damage straight to the radiator and engine block. I drove of the accident site. Me and several firefighters has to push the morgan off of the accident site. I did not get injured, the morgan's driver crashed into the wheel, and had pain in the ribs. The Morgan did not have an airbag and I did not notice a seat belt.
Do yourself a favor, never get into one of these things, do not even think of buying one.
Also, the damage to the Morgan was the point: the crumpling f its front end is exactly waht led to the driver suffering only bruised ribs rather than the horpitalisation or death that might have been with a less-modern-safety design from the 1930s. This is how cars are safe: they absorb the energy by crumpling so that your body doesn't have to.
Yes and classic cars were extremely unsafe by modern standards
> horpitalisation or death that might have been with a less-modern-safety design from the 1930s
Or zero injuries or maybe not even a crash whatsoever with a not particularly modern safety design from the 90s
Unless Morgan launches a new product and gains interest of new audiences, like now.
I was unfamiliar with that brand. Seeing a comment with “PSA, this won’t have an airbag” was helpful.
I expect those audiences will learn when they try to order one and/or when they see the price tag. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_Motor_Company:
“Morgan produce 850 cars per year, all assembled by hand. The waiting list for a car is approximately six months, but it has sometimes been as long as ten years.”
I don’t think this is a car that you buy in a run of the mill shop.
Clearly, since their whole USP is to have the car look like some classic from the 30s or earlier, its going to inherit the safety limitations of those body shapes.
And yeah, driving them on US roads where everything else is so much bigger is likely to end badly if you're not paying attention.
So while your point is completely valid, its not like you're thinking to get this or a Toyota sedan, for your next purchase. It's a special vehicle aimed at a specific market.
If your main goal is safety (or comfort, or practicality or price) then Morgan should not be your target vehicle. (Then again one could say the same thing about motorbikes, yet they sell well because there can be other goals as well.)
I’m not sure it would be that different on European roads either.
Weren’t we talking about driving a three wheel car with poor tires and no safety features? I doubt riding one on European roads would be that mich safer.
I'm always cognizant of my lack of stopping power when on my motorcycle and so leave a wide berth between myself and any vehicle ahead of me. I suppose someone not used to that mindset finding themselves in a 3-wheeler might be forgiven for thinking they were in a car.
Nowadays, driving a vehicle without these technologies seems crazy. But those machines are not for everyday use: they are a special kind of entertainment for passionate people, those who most likely know what they are doing.
It still happens to be surprised by a situation, like the one top post seems to describe, and even with great experience it can become tricky to stop, with or without technology.
Secondly, Morgans are all about the styling. And 30s styling is not aero-effecient. I think we can safely predict that when an electric Morgan does appear it will have poor effeciency. But that won't matter. No-one buys a Morgan for range effeciency.
It's got a factory 24 kwh battery for an official range of 84 miles. That's 3.5 mi/kwh. I don't doubt that you can hit 5.1, but it's not representative.
What I've observed is that I get about 5.2-5.3 in the summer, and about 4.8 in the winter. When my wife drives it, she gets more like 4.9 in the summer, and 4.5 in the winter. So there's a difference in driving style, but my wife definitely doesn't try to drive particularly efficiently and still beats 3.5 by quite a bit.
It is not for sale. From TFA:
> Before you get too excited, it's not going into production—at least not in its current form. XP-1 isn't a preview of an upcoming model, nor is it a hint at something coming in 2025 or… whenever. It's a testbed to see what Morgan can get up to with a set of batteries, a motor, and a healthy dose of engineering.
These cars do in fact have a negative reputation in the racing world because the 3 wheel setup is very prone to tipping, they don't have much grip, and overall frankly the rest of that car isn't great. You'd be much better off getting one of the Lotus 7 clones.
Personally, I wish they'd release it as a kit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_C5
Perhaps we can look back and say the C5 was the UK's segway!
Hyperion have a model XP-1.
Morgan have a prototype named XP-1.
There are many other manufacturers that have used the name XP-1 or XP1 for something, and are probably at least one or two more in the transportation industry. (Hyperion sometimes spell theirs XP1, Morgan do at least on the side of the vehicle, and articles about both mix the spellings freely. Ugh.)
It’s a pretty bland name and none of the players are particularly notable or in quite the same space so that trademark concerns are negligible. I feel like it’d be about as reasonable to quibble over the name “Lectric” being taken—“electric” has been around for yonks.