{"id":10869,"date":"2024-05-06T05:20:47","date_gmt":"2024-05-06T05:20:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=10869"},"modified":"2024-05-06T05:20:47","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T05:20:47","slug":"as-elon-musk-abandons-the-25k-tesla-this-ev-costs-just-4400","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=10869","title":{"rendered":"As Elon Musk Abandons the $25K Tesla, This EV Costs Just $4,400"},"content":{"rendered":"


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As Elon Musk steps away, yet again, from the idea of a $25,000 Tesla<\/a>, let\u2019s take this opportunity to zoom out and appreciate what a truly<\/em> affordable EV can be. For this we need to ignore the Nissan Leaf<\/a>\u2014currently the cheapest EV in the US at $29,280\u2014and skip over Europe, home to the adorable but flawed $10,000 Citroen Ami<\/a>, and head to China.<\/p>\n

Here you\u2019ll find the equally cheap BYD<\/a> Seagull<\/a>, a small electric hatchback styled by ex-Lamborghini<\/a> designer Wolfgang Egger and with a 200-mile range\u2014four<\/em> times that of the Ami.<\/p>\n

But what if even that is too expensive? Then allow us to present the Zhidou<\/a> Rainbow. This is a compact city EV priced from 31,900 yuan before subsidies\u2014that’s just $4,400. For a new electric car. WIRED literally recommends ebikes<\/a> 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. There\u2019s 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 Porsche\u2019s 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<\/a> in the mid ’90s.<\/p>\n

Cheaper Than an Ebike<\/h2>\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 China\u2019s 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 isn\u2019t terrible<\/em>. Even if the testing standard is generous, and the larger battery has a more realistic range of 100 miles, that\u2019s about the same as the Honda e, which cost a whopping \u00a337,000 ($46,000) before it went off sale at the end of 2023.<\/p>\n

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