[HeyLaughingBoy]

Honestly, I think $7,000 delivered for this is a pretty good price. It would make a nice farm vehicle, especially with that dump bed. It's in the same price range as a lower end UTV and looks like it would be far more comfortable doing, e.g., snow clearing duty. Swap in a set of BFG Mud Terrain tires and you're all set.

Some feedback on reliability, the rust issues, etc. would be nice but I'd seriously think about getting one. As for it not being street legal, well I live out in the country. Golf carts, UTV's, ATV's, minibikes, on the roads around here are not at all unusual. Not legal, but I only know of one case of someone getting ticketed.

[ldoughty]

I really want to agree -- I really want a truck like this in the USA, but unfortunately I need to disagree simply because it is not street legal.

I have an old 2001 beater truck I use for the purpose now, but I can't replace it with this EV because it's not street legal. I live in a rural area, but luckily I can drive 2 miles to a dump (transfer station) and 5 miles to a place with bulk mulch, soil, gravel, etc...

But I can't possibly get to either without going on state roads... And I can't drop my gas truck and replace it with an EV for $7k if it would not be legally usable.

I can't see many farms that could use this. For the same reason -- I certainly don't want to use my truck to get serval buckets of mulch, just to shovel it into the EV, then to shovel it out at the final destination.

If the gov lets me slap "farm use" tags on this, and that's all is needed... Okay, I'm interested.. but I think there's usually more requirements

[asdff]

OP uses it to move wood and dirt around the parents ranch. It's basically replacing a wheelbarrow, not the farm truck.

[thrashh]

A $7,000 wheelbarrow

[shever73]

In the video, he makes the point that the other thing he considered getting for his parents was a golf buggy. This came in cheaper and more useful.

[4ggr0]

I was not aware that golf buggies are so expensive, wow. I mean, doesn't surprise me that much considering that everything related to golfing seems insanely expensive, but I didn't expect golf buggies to cost more than a used car, new motorbike or other things.

[asdff]

Worth it for his aging parents tending to a huge property

[bluGill]

A lot of tractors are mostly $20,000 wheelbarrows.

[djbusby]

Can you put the red-triangle on the back? Works to bring other farm equipment onto state roads (for short distance)

[MarcelOlsz]

Just hitch it and use it that way. Worst case scenario you pay a little more for gas. Problem solved.

[dylan604]

Isn't the entire point to not be using any gas? You want to use a gas powered ICE truck to tow the EV to load contents into the EV's bed, then tow the EV back to where ever just to avoid transferring content from ICE->EV->application?

[R0b0t1]

If you assemble it from a kit it becomes legal. No parts requirements iirc, specific cutout for homebuilt machines.

[olyjohn]

Jason Torchinsky from The Autopian imported a ChangLi a couple of years ago. He has posted regular updates since he got it (his old posts are still up at Jalopnik). I don't know how it compares to this one exactly, but there were a few posts showing some sketchy wiring, and some wires that nearly caught on fire. But it should give you some idea how it's been working.

[sjs382]

First thing I thought of when I saw this story. Heres a link to one of the posts: https://jalopnik.com/the-worlds-cheapest-ev-is-genuinely-goo...

[enragedcacti]

It really isn't too bad if you have the right use case. You could get a Kei truck which makes a lot more power and you can register, but you'll be paying a good bit more ($9k for a 1990 with a dump bed near me) and you'll have the fun of maintaining a 30 year old JDM vehicle.

[bitexploder]

You can get them at 20 years old. Some states will not let you register them, like my home state, Colorado. Sad times, they are pretty practical.

[hotpotamus]

https://insideevs.com/news/502536/wuling-hongguang-mini-ev-c...

That's the actual car I think I want most in the world. It's so cheap and fun, and possibly even practical for me, but I don't think there's any way I could drive it in my city sadly.

[intrepidhero]

https://www.arcimoto.com/

Not nearly as cheap, but street legal in the US and looks like loads of fun.

[glogla]

Yeah, the "larger cars are safer for people inside the car but more likely to kill people outside the car" red queen race made roads even more terrible. In car like that, you would get ran over by a lifted truck or mama-SUV pretty quickly.

[beebeepka]

If things continue this way, our current end game is tanks with machine guns and stuff. I feel safer already.

[jaclaz]

I don't think it will ever arrive in the US, but the Citroen AMI is a nice little thing that is having some success in some EU countries:

https://www.citroen.co.uk/models/future-models/ami.html

Though personally (if it will ever be produced in mass) I like this "re-make" of the old Isetta, the microlino:

https://microlino-car.com/en/microlino

[beebeepka]

I would actually get a driving license for a car like this.

Why wouldn't you be able to drive it in your city. Doesn't look smaller than a smart.

[hotpotamus]

In the US you'd have to buy a bunch and put them through destructive crash tests to certify them, and I doubt these would pass - those smart cars actually have expensive high end steel structures built in that make them surprisingly resilient, and I doubt they do that in China.

If they had 3 wheels you could skip a lot of that and count it as a motorcycle. Also, anything older than 25 years basically just bypasses the rules which means a lot of 90's Kei cars from Japan are starting to make their way in, but obviously those are combustion powered (still cool though).

There is the concept of Neighborhood Electric Vehicle, but I don't believe they are allowed in my state. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighborhood_Electric_Vehicle

Who knows, maybe there's a business opportunity to import these things and certify them - I'd be a buyer.

[lovemenot]

Speaking of Kei cars, the first two EVs that fall into the Kei car regulatory category were recently released in Japan.

https://www.motor1.com/news/587022/nissan-sakura-electric-ke...

https://www.mitsubishi-motors.co.jp/lineup/ek_x_ev/special/?...

[7speter]

The “destructive crash tests” are required so that you have a fighting chance in surviving a crash with a SUV

[hotpotamus]

I understand that, but how would I do in crash with an SUV if I were on a motorcycle and are those street legal?

[davidbanham]

A motorcycle has obvious dangers. An unsafe car has non-obvious dangers.

A lot of government regulation is about preventing non-obvious dangers or trying to make them obvious.

[ClumsyPilot]

Also Cycles and Horses and Donkeys are all legal on the road.

[msh]

A motorcycle can't really be built to survive impact with a truck. A car can, so it makes sense to require them to build to that standard.

[brk]

Looking at the way the "frame" is built on these, I'm not sure it would fare well in a crash with even a Fiat 500. It appears to have zero crash safety.

[cmeacham98]

Assuming they live in the US there is a 0% chance that passed DOT crash tests and thus won't be street legal in the US.

[jfim]

Haha wow, that's such an adorable car. It's unfortunate that that kind of vehicle won't ever make it to the US though.

[fshbbdssbbgdd]

The closest thing was probably the electric Smart car that Mercedes makes: https://carbuzz.com/cars/smart/fortwo-electric-drive-cabrio

They don’t sell them in the US anymore.

[jfim]

Oh wow, I didn't even know they made an electric smart, much less a convertible one. Not sure how good the EV part of that was (the article hints that it was terrible) but the form factor is really nice.

[happymellon]

Is the Honda-e available over there?

That's a pretty nice mini electric vehicle.

[WorldMaker]

The Honda-e is not available at all in the US. The top line excuse is that side-view cameras are still not street legal in the US (though regulators are supposed to finally reconvene on that any day now) and the car's profile can't retrofit mirrors. But the current bottom line seems a disinterest from Honda of America in any EV products right now.

[robin_reala]

It’s really not that small in real life.

[happymellon]

I'm in the UK and seen them about. They aren't very large, about the size of a Fiat 500 which is considered quite a compact car.

[Edit] I've just looked it up and it is considered a mid-sized super-compact.

Within 1/2" of the Fiesta for the wheelbase. Its quite dinky.

[prmoustache]

I don't understand why anyone would choose that over a motorbike.

[throwaway0a5e]

$7k gets you a really nice compact pickup, not anything the average HNer would buy, but nice enough for farm duty and new enough to not need anything for years. And you can drive it down the street. And when you snap something doing farmer stuff (which you will, because farmer) you can go buy a replacement part easily.

[Gustomaximus]

As someone that lives on a farm, I was thinking the same, you're getting a reasonable second hand ute "paddock basher" at that price.

At the same time I love seeing this and where its going. I always think of Luke on his uncles farm in star wars and that farm work will increasing change more to fixing the machines doing the job, than the job itself. And I suspect ongoing electric powered will suit farmers more than anyone as they have the space and lack of neighbours to create power themselves.

[motohagiography]

These could be competitive with a Kioti for golf courses, fairgrounds, and horse farms. If they there were a utv track kit option, doubly so in places with winters.

[slg]

>Golf carts, UTV's, ATV's, minibikes, on the roads around here are not at all unusual. Not legal, but I only know of one case of someone getting ticketed.

Although I do wonder if all the conveniences that makes this more carlike combined with its uniqueness in the US would make it more likely to receive legal pushback. Something that clearly isn't even attempting to be a street legal vehicle like a golf cart is easier to excuse. A cop who sees this might be more suspicious of the vehicle and how you actually use it.

[ghaff]

My neighbor with about 35 acres has a golf cart she drives around. Probably wouldn't need this as she also has a tractor and a pickup but can easily imagine something like this for a large property.

Another neighbor has an ATV he uses for snow plowing his long driveway. You need to keep on top of things relative to plowing with a pickup but he seems to manage.

But yeah. If you're going to have farm vehicles are probably better and more standard options.

[Arrath]

Yeah I have to agree. This seems a lot more suited to most of my uses than a more expensive Polaris UTV. With an enclosed and climate controlled cab!

[fsckboy]

> the rust issues

rust issues on cars are actually caused by water pooling in inside cavities and rusting its way out over time because they don't dry out. water on the outside of a piece of metal isn't really that serious a threat for rusting its way in (you see lots of cars driven for years with unrepaired body damage and they don't rust away)

I don't imagine the rust he saw was bubbling up through the paint from inside, I doubt it's a problem

[fnands]

My worry would be maintenance. Yeah sure, you can get it for cheap, but will it take 6 months every time you need a replacement part?

[the_biot]

Possibly, but then 1) it won't require much in the way of maintenance or replacement parts, being a really low end EV, and 2) I suspect everything but the chassis is bog standard stuff you can get anywhere. This isn't going to be like a car with its hundreds (thousands?) of molded ABS parts everywhere.

[hedora]

Yeah; very, very tempting. It makes me wonder if there are specialty shops in the US that can cut down on the $2000-$3000 delivery charge.

[chemmail]

I'm not sure if thats really a good deal. You can find some Leafs with new bats for like $3000-4000 all over. And thats road legal anywhere. Maybe chop the top and you got a pickup.

[HeyLaughingBoy]

Can I throw a set of All Terrains on a Leaf? Also, ground clearance would probably be an issue.

[m463]

I would love to love it, but I don't know how it holds up against a used pickup truck, say a used small toyota pickup or an older f-150.

[bluGill]

You don't have to deal with getting fuel for it. Sure the used truck can drive to a gas station (instead of gas cans), but it is still a hassle. Large farms will have fuel tanks behind the barn so they can drive a tractor over to fill it, but most people don't go through enough fuel to make that worth it. This you just plug in when you are done and it is always ready to go.

If you use this all day it probably won't work, but most small property owners would use it for an hour or two (over the course of an entire day), and so it always has plenty of range. I don't see why they sell gas lawn mowers at WalMart (do they still?) as for home owners electric now makes more sense than dealing with gas. Sure the big lawn mowing companies use their mowers more in a day than the battery will last, but the small home owner doesn't.