Wheego Whip

Anyone heard of these? I looked into them a few years ago but was dis-interested because they were $30,000 or more and they could only do 25mph because they were essentially NEVs. However, I'm told now that they have been upgraded to highway capable cars with 30 Kwh LiFePo packs. PLUS, I'm seeing them advertised for $16,000. Here is one advertised at a dealership in my own town:

http://2128.ecarlist.com/

I realize this thing is still only half the car the Leaf is, but it is also half the price. I wonder if one can get the $7,500 tax credit on top of this, bringing the cost more around $8,500. That would be a really cheap electric car that could take you pretty much anywhere you need to go, even has air conditioning, etc.

adric22 said:

Anyone heard of these? I looked into them a few years ago but was dis-interested because they were $30,000 or more and they could only do 25mph because they were essentially NEVs. However, I'm told now that they have been upgraded to highway capable cars with 30 Kwh LiFePo packs. PLUS, I'm seeing them advertised for $16,000. Here is one advertised at a dealership in my own town:

http://2128.ecarlist.com/

I realize this thing is still only half the car the Leaf is, but it is also half the price. I wonder if one can get the $7,500 tax credit on top of this, bringing the cost more around $8,500. That would be a really cheap electric car that could take you pretty much anywhere you need to go, even has air conditioning, etc.

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Careful. They make a NEV (Whip) and a Highway capable car (Whip Life). The NEV is the one you see for $16k. The highway capable car is $32k just like the leaf. Same tax credits apply, but the car is not nearly as nice as the Leaf. I'd just stick to Nissan if I were you. It seats more passengers, has a better warranty from a larger company. I just don't see any reason to try Wheego at this time. If they were selling the Whip Life for less it might be worth a try.

http://wheego.net/more/vehicles/pricing/

palmermd said:

Careful. They make a NEV (Whip) and a Highway capable car (Whip Life). The NEV is the one you see for $16k. The highway capable car is $32k just like the leaf. Same tax credits apply, but the car is not nearly as nice as the Leaf. I'd just stick to Nissan if I were you. It seats more passengers, has a better warranty from a larger company. I just don't see any reason to try Wheego at this time. If they were selling the Whip Life for less it might be worth a try.
http://wheego.net/more/vehicles/pricing/

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Oh - You are right. I didn't realize they still made the NEV version. There's definitely no way I would spend that kind of money on a Wheego knowing that the Leaf will be available in my area in less than a year. The $16,000 would have been competitive, but not $32,000.

These small companies are going to struggle to survive the next couple of years, unless they do something very different.

Companies like Tesla and Aptera may do well, because they do something completely different, but companies like Wheego and Coda are going to have their work cut out unless they have something hidden up their sleeves.

Next year, there will be a SMART electric car - the rather unfortunately named FourTwo ED. I'm not sure if SMART's marketing department know what the letters E.D. can mean in some areas, but asking people if they'd like to try out a SMART E.D. might get a ... ahem ... mixed response.

Why would anyone want a Wheego Whip Life over a SMART? Why would anyone want a Coda over a Nissan LEAF?

There are, of course, exceptions. There is a market for cars from smaller manufacturers that either fulfil a specific niche - the Aptera is a good example of that - or that can be sold at a price that is comparable to gasoline cars - such as the REVA NXR.

MikeBoxwell said:

Companies like Tesla and Aptera may do well, because they do something completely different, but companies like Wheego and Coda are going to have their work cut out unless they have something hidden up their sleeves.

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I agree. The other thing I can't figure out is these NEVs. I mean, these companies are asking $15,000 to $20,000 for a vehicle that can only do 25 mph. Yet, I can buy a used toyota Prius (see my other thread on plug-in hybrids) and add some extra batteries, disable the gas engine, and I have a vehicle that costs less than an NEV, goes faster, has air-conditioning, etc. And if you really need to, you can turn the gas engine on and drive it like a regular car. True, the converted Prius's may not be nearly as functional of an EV as a Nissan Leaf, but they can easily outclass an NEV and be cheaper.

MikeBoxwell said:

These small companies are going to struggle to survive the next couple of years, unless they do something very different.

Next year, there will be a SMART electric car - the rather unfortunately named FourTwo ED. I'm not sure if SMART's marketing department know what the letters E.D. can mean in some areas, but asking people if they'd like to try out a SMART E.D. might get a ... ahem ... mixed response.

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The intro to the smart ED (they still are sticking to lower case 'smart' as far as I know) is a limited test of 250 leased one's at a whopping $599 US/mo for 48 months!

Another recent story in Edmunds:

http://blogs.edmunds.com/greencarad...test-drive-of-smarts-electric-two-seater.html

We still own an '08 smart fortwo passion coupe and it seems most folks we see all think that it MUST be an EV or diesel but of course ours is neither as its the U.S. version. Smart does fully expect the EV version to go down significantly in price and availability but by the time the lease on the 250 expires there should be even more main stream EV's out by then I would expect. The smart fortwo is one of those specific purpose cars that some people get but most won't accept (not unlike the beloved LEAF). I think it's great that an smart EV version will be coming but it needs to be as competitive as it rivals if they ever expect to sell any in significant numbers in the future.

redLEAF said:

The intro to the smart ED (they still are sticking to lower case 'smart' as far as I know) is a limited test of 250 leased one's at a whopping $599 US/mo for 48 months!

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I'd be interested to know who would pay this much ....

evnow said:

redLEAF said:

The intro to the smart ED (they still are sticking to lower case 'smart' as far as I know) is a limited test of 250 leased one's at a whopping $599 US/mo for 48 months!

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I'd be interested to know who would pay this much ....

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The article and others I've seen state that most of these will be fleet sales and as such would be written off as business expense so my guess would be for perhaps the city/urban car sharing programs and other light duty (meter readers, security in amusement parks, etc.) applications; some will be offered for retail/consumer but it's high cost --- remember though the MINI E was a limited trial as well (450 units; 1 year lease at $850 US/mo) and they had plenty of interest, although much shorter time commitment.

http://www.miniusa.com/minie-usa/

Short answer- Stay away or flush your money and safety down the drain. Really.

redLEAF said:

The article and others I've seen state that most of these will be fleet sales and as such would be written off as business expense so my guess would be for perhaps the city/urban car sharing programs and other light duty (meter readers, security in amusement parks, etc.) applications; some will be offered for retail/consumer but it's high cost --- remember though the MINI E was a limited trial as well (450 units; 1 year lease at $850 US/mo) and they had plenty of interest, although much shorter time commitment.

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Just because it is business expense doesn't mean companies will pay so much more. Mini-E had no competition (or atleast the competition was $110K). In anycase, Mini is a better car ...

And now from Florida, an exclusive EV dealer (probably not the first??), features the Wheego as it's first car so posted to this thread


http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2010/11/floridas-first-all-electric-car-dealership-opens-.html


http://www.wfie.com/story/13580857/green-car?redirected=true