Luxgen is making its move into the growing ASEAN market – it has announced that it will be attending the Vietnam Auto & Petrol 2010 expo set to be held at the Ho Chi Minh City International Exhibition & Convention Center from June 23rd to June 27th 2010.
The usual suspects will be there – the LUXGEN7 MPV and the LUXGEN7 SUV but what’s interesting is that Luxgen says it will be exhibiting a full electric vehicle, the LUXGEN EV, which was first shown in Dubai.
The LUXGEN EV is basically a LUXGEN7 MPV kitted out to run on electric power. It was developed together with American company AC Propulsion and uses a 180kW (240hp) motor with 265Nm of torque.
The motor is backed by lithium ion batteries. 0 to 100km/h takes 8.6 seconds and the vehicle has a top speed of 145km/h. Range on a single charge is quoted at about 350km but interestingly this is achievable only at a fixed speed of 40km/h so expected a normal combined driving cycle to use much more battery power.
“We are delighted to confirm our participation at this year’s show. LUXGEN has successfully built up a high level of global awareness by attending the 10th Dubai International Motor show, and Vietnam will be a great opportunity for us to further showcase our technology-oriented brand positioning to the Southeast Asia market,” says LUXGEN CEO Mr KC Hu.
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Auto and PETROL?
No, it’s EV only. The boxy thing on top is the controller for the motor and the small cylindrical thing in front of it is the blower for the controller. Even if the controller is 99% efficient, at max power about 1 kW plus still has to be dissipated away. The motor is the yellow cylindrical thing under the conroller and coupled to the transmission. This thing probably need to use only 2,3 lower gears only since max motor speed is about 12,000 rpm. The motor come from the same company that supply electric motors for Tesla EV. Very expensive close to RM 100,000 per motor system. That big battery is probably about 18 kWh or more. Current price is probably RM 90,000 for that big battery pack. So the EV system premium is about RM 190,000 maybe 25% less since Luxgen is buying not just one system and that will bring the cost of the EV system to about RM 142,000 (~USD 43,000). They can probably sell this at a price of around RM 250,000 (USD 75,000) perhaps and that is reaching into the price territory of the Tesla EV (USD 100,000).
people would buy MPV if they have large family. it’s cheaper to travel ‘balik kampung’ in MPV than driving 2 cars. but 350km but only at speed 40km/h? it would take more than 7 hours from kl to penang!
most probably this MPV is not for family. maybe suitable as city taxi, or for pos. just to reduce pollution in city center.
They do MPV EV largely because of it has a bigger space for more batteries.
Why is the huge size of the supposedly compact electrical motor?
So P2 sold their Alza headlamp to Luxgen? In Taiwan Luxgen is a technology of automotive and Asus capability in computer. They combine it and Luxgen is the product. Their history can be traced 50years ago.
when la this brand want to come to malaysia…hope it price will par with car from china
limit 40km/h? only politican can sale this vehicle
Vietnam Auto Show eh? Anyone wonder why KL hasn’t had a motor show in years? Lack of participation or lack of funds?
The Korean Advanced Institute for Science & Technology actually has a good EV concept (OLEV) which they’re currently testing on public buses. The bus contains a small battery pack and is kept charged by electromagnets in the roads. It’s estimated they only need about 20-30% of the roads laid with coils as you don’t need to constantly charge the batteries. This reduces the battery size and vehicle weight. Let’s see how far they can go with this experiment.
Luxgen should become a worldwide auto brand like BYD.