An Electric Car You Can Buy Today: The $20K TRIAC EV
TRIAC Electric Car. Range: 60-100 Miles. Cost: 2 cents per mile
This little number has been getting some good press lately (see EcoGeek and Inhabit), and for good reason: it’s the first commercially available electric vehicle with a price tag and functionality that could meet the needs of the average city driver (assuming you can afford it).
OK, you aren’t going to fit a family of 5 in there, but that’s not what it’s made for. Green Vehicles, manufacturer of the 3-wheeled TRIAC EV, calls it a “modern freeway commuter,” because the zero-emissions vehicle can reach 80 mph and will get you into the carpool lane with a single driver. Safety-wise, it has a structural steel cage the company says is the “same metal skeleton used in race cars” and a low center of gravity to maintain balance (but surprisingly has no airbags).
- » See also: Is the Renault-Nissan Alliance Going in Two Different Electric Car Directions?
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Back at home, it takes about 6 hours to charge the car’s lithium-ion batteries at an estimated cost of about 2 cents per mile. Not a bad deal if you can afford the $20,000 price tag. The company website says the TRIAC EV is currently available at dealerships in San Jose and Mill Valley, California, and should be more widely available in the future..
Final thoughts: to me, it looks like they added an extra wheel to a racing bike and built a canopy around it, which makes it a powerful ride but a lot safer (and a lot greener). Generous State/Federal tax credits would put this car within reach for many more drivers, like the $4,000 Federal credit for electric vehicles that ended in 2006.
Want one of these? Check out the Green Vehicles website.
See more pictures below.
More Posts on Electric Cars:
- Affordable Electric Cars Coming to US in 2009
- Nissan to Sell Electric Cars in US by 2010
- Tesla’s First Electric Vehicle, 2008 Roadster, Now Under Production
- Aptera’s $26,000 Electric Car and 300 MPG Hybrid Coming Soon
[...] battery pack, depending on terrain and speed. Rumor has it that the Triac will run about $20,000, or one-fifth the price of a Tesla EV [...]
[...] expensive? Check these two out: An Electric Car You Can Buy Today: The $20K TRIAC EV and Affordable Electric Cars Coming to US in [...]
I love electric vehicles. Torque is amazing, no tailpipe emissions, But 20k for that. OMG, yuck, eww, pht pht, bleeck…no way dude!
You can register and drive these butt ugly 3wheelers in California without a motorcycle license. But for love of all thats good and decent, WHY WHY, WHYYYYYY?
Otto the vast majority of commutes are far less than 50 miles and a lot more utility than useless. However, , WHY WHY, WHYYYYYY? (screaming psychotically, exit stage left)
I will buy a plug-in electric car when it is the same size and cost of a Prius or Civic…and has 4 wheels. Until then, I’ll ride my bike and keep repairing my current car. Like a lot of folks, I have two cars, one for my wife/kids and one for me. We try to drive them as little as possible.
I believe we are not unique, in that if we have one car that can go long distances, I can buy a plug-in electric vehicle and never feel inconvenienced. I would like both of them to use no gas or as little gas as possible, and I don’t mind plugging them in.
Thanks for writing this article and helping people see an alternative.
I have a question, i note on tv news and other media,no one says how many AMPS of electricity it takes to recharge the green cars batteries ? at if in Cal. they have so many “brownouts” in summer what will be the drain on energy use of these vehicles ? how is that saving energy when it has to be plugged into a power sourse ? these batteries when they wear out will have to buried in a tocic waste dump and that costs a lot of money,waste disposal has to also added into the cost of these cars of which i hear no one talking about. In the long run these cars could cost a lot in the future when they start to fill up special landfills.
Remember they tell people to cut back on heating and air conditioning all of which use energy.
Its time we started using Nuclear power, its being used all over the world and we do have millions of tons of some of the cleanest coal in the world in Utah that Pres. Clinton closed off ( 100 years worth)plus we have Billions of gallons of oil under our soil,but green wackos have banned new refineries and drilling for oil.
But since all you greens out there are against this,we can go back to the old slogan of the 1970s, freeze and starve to death in the dark..
That ought to raise get the chicken littles of Gores crowd stirred up. In the 1950s they told us we were headed for a new ice age,then again in the 1970s,now we are going to all melt..hahaha look where Al have his $$$ invested suckers…he’s going to make even more $$$$$$$$$$$ off your rear ends
So smart this car.
We have to start some place. This is the start of somthing great. We need to put a end to the BIG OIL COMPANIES and make them go away along with their record profits. F them they rape us all every day and this is what we all need to do to change that. Keep up the great work.
[...] An Electric Car You Can Buy Today: The $20K TRIAC EV [...]
I buy that soap if it came in a box looking the 3 wheel enclosed bike talked about here. That is a cool vehicle, and exactly what I am looking for in my next vehicle