What's Wrong With This Picture: The Urban Electric Delivery Van Edition

by Edward Niedermeyer

Published: July 22nd, 2011

what s wrong with this picture the urban electric delivery van edition

Would you be a little bit surprised if the man behind this tiny, funky little electric van was the man who styled the VW Passat CC and first-generation Mercedes SLK? Well, Murat Günak has been heavily into the electric car game since leaving Volkswagen, having designed one of my favorite EVs, the fresh-and-freaky Mindset. But even though the Mia and the Mindset seem a little more in the same vein, Günak has actually moved well past the Mindset’s super-high-end positioning, as this Mia is set to sell for the lowest price of any EV in the EU, starting at €19,500 ($28k). For comparison, Mitsubishi’s iMiEV (the cheapest EV in the US market) sells for €34,390, or nearly $50k… although its European price is set to drop to closer to €15k when production ramps up.

But the Mia isn’t just (relatively) inexpensive… it’s downright cool. Built by the French firm Heuliez in either 9.4 or 10.5 foot lengths (the latter with 53 cubic feet of cargo space), it comes with a McLaren F1-style central driver’s seat and doors designed to operate in tight urban conditions. With a range of only 60 miles and a top speed of only slightly more than 60 MPH, it’s strictly an urban runabout, but as a small business delivery vehicle it seems to hit a lot of the right buttons… especially the three-hour charging time (an 80-mile-range battery is optional but takes five hours to charge). Production hits 10,000 units next year, when sales to private customers begin. [via Autobild]

#3WTP #DeliveryVan #Design #Electric #Europe #EV #Green #NewCars #Vans

Edward Niedermeyer

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2 of 12 comments

Tosh on Jul 22, 2011

"What's wrong?" Since one of its versions is a taxi cab, it will need a quick-change battery (so where's the hatch for that)?

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Andy D on Jul 23, 2011

I would need 2 or 3 of these a day to complete my appointed rounds. A human powered vehicle is prolly more useful within that range

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