Everyone is talking about a reasonable, practical, inexpensive electric car - these two manufacturers are not. Two upcoming extremes in the Stromer model range show what you can get out of the drive.
Reach? "That's enough," David Michery says for a moment, laughing that the questioner could count each of his gleaming white teeth. Again such an issue that guarantees its customers little interest. Such as trunk, loading times, infotainment ... Who wants to buy an 150.000 dollar electric car from the former record manager from Los Angeles, which is mainly on one from: Showtime.
Michery's offer is called Qiantu K50. At the New York Auto Show, the stocky mid-fifties has just presented his super sports car with thundering rap and plenty of light show - and himself. Michery is a typical American car maker of a new type: just like Elon Musk, he had been behind the wheel for most of his life little to do with vehicles. And now wants to conquer the world. "Making the impossible possible," he says. What else?
However, the flat two-seater is not entirely different from the other star when you approach it closer: two electric motors combined deliver 375 hp and 580 Nm of torque. This offers opportunities against Tesla's Model S in the traffic light sprint - and that is what matters in most countries around the world. It takes almost five seconds to reach 100 km / h. There is even an SUV run like the Tesla X of the 1,25 meter flat flounder. And even at the almost 200 km / h electronically limited top speed, reason prevails over speed.
However, the Qiantu produced in China looks like more, you have to let Michery. And there is also a weight-saving aluminum frame under the tight carbon dress. So the 4,63 meter long and 2,06 wide car remains under two tons. The rather modestly dimensioned 41-kilowatt hour battery in a T-shape with a large rear load and high center of gravity also contributes to the diet - and should still be enough for 380 kilometers. When the sports car driver doesn't drive it like a sports car.
Could he but despite the problematic placement of the heavy battery well, if the vehicle over the next year also comes to Germany. Because with a suspension from the British specialist Mira, Brembo brakes with four-piston calipers, four-wheel drive and Pirelli P Zero, the K50 is likely to be ready for cornering. Not too many just before it goes back to the charging station.
This is exactly what another US pioneer would like to make completely forget: RJ Scaringe is in a range frenzy. The 35-year-old engineer is a passionate car hobbyist and already pimped Porsches as a teenager - but never worked for a car company. At the moment he is preferably deep in the dirt. Scaringe's company Rivian is showing two fully electric vehicles that are supposed to bring this drive to where SUVs from Jaguar, Audi or Tesla have previously had to give up: the R1T pick-up mountain range and the R1S range-rover-like SUV deliver great depths of the river steepest approach angle - thanks to a total of up to 764 hp electric motors on all four wheels.
“The ideal platform to go out and enjoy nature”, promises the otherwise rather reserved doctor of the elite MIT. And that can also be far away: Because the largest battery currently in use, with a capacity of 180 kilowatt hours, will even bring the five and a half meter long and 2,7 ton pickup around 600 kilometers away. The SUV, which is half a meter shorter, could have even more.
Both offer plenty of space if they come from next year for prices from around 65.000 to well above 100.000 dollars on the market: In the pickup, there are 800 kilograms that can be transported on the bed, another 350 liter in a lockable and continuous cargo space front under the bunk and 330 liters under the bonnet. The SUV offers seven comfortable seats.
Unlike the robust jeeps or Ford's F150 pickup icon, the Rivian range is rather cool and elegant. The SUV in particular has a lot of the style of a Volvo from the outside - and the inspiration continues inside. Of course, there is no giant TFT in this segment in the USA either: a 15,6-inch screen is the central control unit, 12,3 inches stand for the instruments in front of the driver, and passengers in the SUV can also look at the back As standard, shorten the travel time to Yosemite or the Grand Canyon on a 6,8-inch touchscreen.
Unlike the K50 sports car solitaire, the Rivian cars are already on a low-cost, flat unit that houses batteries, drivetrain, brakes, thermo system and suspension. And thanks to the four wheel hub motors and the giant battery, the 0 at 100 km / h also keeps an eye on the three-second mark, with 201 kilometers per hour being reduced.
Another thing that should inspire pickup customers in the USA: The Rivians are “Made in USA”. Scaringe is currently building the factory in Washington State. The start-up has already convinced two fans: Bill Ford has just invested half a billion dollars in Rivian - and Jeff Bezos' retail giant Amazon even invested 700 million.
Such sums are investment dimensions that many traditional manufacturers can only dream of. Wake up quickly is announced: Because Scaringe wants to sell his cars in a few years in Europe. Betting, is there then on Amazon?