German energy supply company mk-group Holding has come out with the CARe 500, an electric car based on the Fiat 500, and with this one, you can choose to buy it with or without batteries.
Erm, that’s right. Fully-loaded, a CARe 500 goes for 36,900 euros, with various subsidies reducing this amount. Buy one without the batteries and the cost begins from 23,900 euros. Of course you’ll need batteries for the needed juice to get the car going, and these you can “rent” for 150 euros per month; the cost includes a flat-rate fee for electricity.
“The advantage of purchasing the car without batteries is that, for 150 euros per month, you will always have fully functional batteries at your disposal, you don’t have to actually purchase the most expensive part of an electric car and fuel is included at a flat rate,” says mk-group Holding’s CEO Richard Kristek.
Manufactured by Swedish company EVadapt, the CARe 500 is a series production vehicle with a fully electric drive, and offers a range of 120 km and a maximum speed of 120 kph. It recharges in six to eight hours using a normal 230V power socket, and a service network of approximately 650 branches ensure the mobility of these electric cars.
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Rent-a-battery..!! What a wonderrful idea. It makes perfect sense. You pay cheaper car. You spent almost same amount monthly as you would with petrol. You get a greener car. And most importantly, you dont have to wait several hours to charge your bettery. Just swap it with a loaded one at the station… If that’s what they mean by the ‘rent-a-battery’ concept…
what about the concept of “Rent-a-EV” ? can change color anytime roflz…
then, we may need more bangladeshis in our stations to help us changing the battery. the battery weight, for example in Prius is 68kg!
No problem bro, 2 minutes job. there is battery trolley to help you. A lot of people use battery forklift and at least 200kg a set.
I think this is the way to go. Instead of having fixed batteries inside a car that need to be recharged when exhausted which mean the car cannot move for hours, they should just design electric car the same way as electric toy car function; instant replaceable batteries that can be change at dedicated ‘batteries station’. Yes, this station may need a very large storage space and a very high powered electric substation but this will help in a long way. It will expand the range of electric vehicle can travel just like what normal petrol station do right now. There are few problems which with smart thinking can be eliminate; there is a need to regulate the size and the specs of batteries and there is also issues with disposing dead batteries.
Maybe in the future, traveller will stop at some “batteries station” instead of petrol station. :)
Are they proposing that we get those Batts from 7-11?
Perhaps from authorized centres? I’m imagining something like all those car repair shops that already sell regular batteries, maybe they can make a deal to become part of the rent-a-battery network?
Very good ideals indeed. Malaysia should follows this so that it is cheaper and more convenient. More business opportunities for many. And maybe in the coming 5 years from now we may be able to use the latest Lithium Ion Air Batteries which can last up to or close to 1000Kms per charge at home. Our vision of a greener tomorrow will eventually come true. Hope Malaysia authority will soon embraced it soon without restriction – for the course of one of ones greed – Petroleum Company. They can sell their petrol to TNB or power utility to generate electricity for charging. This is the most efficient way of using petrol, diesel, bio-diesel, ngv and bio-gas that are inefficient and causes pollutions with all sorts of sickness. Cheer Up! Everyone should now see a clearer and greener tomorrow with much waited expectations!
yup…this is the right direction to get on with the EV’s. No need to purchase batteries. Very cool.
Or better still, make the batteries user replaceable (ie, users can change the batteries from their own home). Thay way, we can use 1 battery while the other battery is being charged at home for tomorrow’s use. Something like remote control cars. Heck they should even use the latest Lithium-ion Polymer(LiPo) batteries as they are lighter and holds more capacity.
This is a brilliant move! And users no longer have to fret about battery replacement costs :)
Is the price correct at 36,900 Euros? A bit too much don’t you think, perhaps a typo error?!
Why so expensive?
150 euro is about rm640 ringgit per month..
emm.. if we charge it at the station.. is’t free?
this is definitely the way to go for electric car..
the battery usually need a lot of time to be fully charged.
the battery subscription can be like we are using the ” tong gas” in our kitchen.
we just exchange the empty cylinder filled and only pay for the gas.
so no need to recharge the battery urself…this way the infra for e-car faster to be ready and practical..
when the car price is cheaper sure more people can get bank approval for the hp..
haha..
but insurance premium cost for or electric car i dunno..might be higher..if the battery it self cost let say rm10k, and it is easily replaced, sure can be the easy target to get stolen..
huuhu..
its a good idea since we dont have to worry about replacing/charging the batteries ourselves..
but it also can be a pain in the ass if we were to swap a month old batteries with the 5yrs old one..right?
the so called battery stations will constantly have to check the reliability of their batteries before swapping it to customers..
u wont want to swap ur batteries every 10km right? just saying that it can happen..
bio-diesel is still much preferred way to go imho..safer n much more reliable for longer kms..available anywhere anytime the nation wouldnt have to change current petrol stations into battery station..just change the oil in the tanks! :D
i meant biofuel instead.. :D