What The Foxtrot Is a Doking?
Our LA Auto Show correspondents filed very little information on this bizarre little car, beyond noting that it is
Made in Croatia, no comment on plans to make available for sale in the US.
But a little research reveals that it is an EV prototype from the automotive branch of a Croatian unmanned vehicle manufacturing concern. Dok-ing usually builds robotized vehicles for mine-clearing, fire fighting, and mining, but apparently it’s branching out into electric cars as well. Fast little electric cars at that: a four-motor, AWD version of this XD will hit 100 km/h (60 MPH) in 4.2 seconds, according to the company website. For the record, that’s one second slower than the Mclaren F1, which seems to have inspired the XD’s three-seat layout. Unfortunately, by the time you hit 120 km, you’ll only have just over 100 km of range. But then, it’s all hypothetical anyway, as Doking’s only market right now is Croatia, where these exotic little EVs are selling (or, more likely, not) for six-figure pricetags. On the other hand,
a company rep tells FoxNews.com that it is looking for investors to help federalize the car and set up a manufacturing facility for it in the United States. If successful, it says that it could produce up to 30,000 cars at a price of around $40,000 each.
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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You gotta admit it's different. I wonder how it drives? Can't stand that flesh coloured plastic though. I'm waiting for a Cronenbergian surprise the longer I stare at the interior pix!
This is no Yugo, which was a poorly built Fiat 128. It's a high-tech city car not based on an existing model, like the Volt or Leaf. It has an aluminum space frame that weighs only 270 pounds, a little more than one-third the weight of the 720 pound battery pack. It's a true city car, 9.3 feet long and 5.9 feet wide, with lots of crush space around the three passengers. It has a 0.35 coefficient of drag, which is very good for such a short vehicle. See http://doking-automotiv.hr/ There are two versions: a 120 hp twin motor and 240 hp quad motor. The two motor version goes 0-60 in 7.5 seconds, which is plenty fast and would be the preferred model since it gets greater range. At an average speed of 25 mph, it has 150 mile range. At 50 mph average speed it can go 100 miles. For several months now, I've been logging my average speed, under different driving conditions, and correlating that to fuel use. In my 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan, in a pure city street driving cycle (no highways), I average 17 mph at 17 mpg. At 30 mph average, I'm getting 20.5 mpg, at 45 mph I get 24.5 mpg; at 55 I top out at 27 mpg, at higher speeds, the curve goes down. Between 15 mph and 55, the graph is virtually linear. A car with dynamic energy recovery, like the Doking, would do much better at slower speeds.