(written March 07)
Those of you not following the EVDL may be interested to know that one of the Elder Statesmen of the list, Lee Hart and several other members purchased a Sunrise body and are in the process of developing a kit car from it.
The original 4-passenger Sunrise is known in EV circles as having one of the longest ranges on a single charge of any EV.
The car's aerodynamics are superb - though nobody seems to have an exact figure, it's probably in the same league as the EV1 (Cd of 0.19).
Originally, it was a fully composite monocoque, front-wheel drive, AC powered vehicle using some parts from the Geo Metro (suspension, brakes, some interior parts, windshield).
In its next iteration, it will be rear wheel drive, using direct DC into the differential, with driveline & suspension parts from Ford RWD production cars (Mustang II, Cougar/Thunderbird). The body will be fully fiberglass (fullly smooth bottom, like the original), with suspension & drive components on metal subframes.
The idea is to roll out availability in stages: initially just the body and a manual with a suggested parts list. Then, progressively, kits with more and more components already sourced, included & assembled. The aim is to sell kits at various price points and stages of assembly that will permit buyers of various levels of ability to complete their vehicles. (Sort of like the BugE example.)
I'd like to be able to point you to the thread on this topic in the EVDL Yahoo archive, but the archive "owner" apparently had a hissy fit and took it offline last week. Probably permanently. There's a "daily digest" version of the archive at Yahoo - but good luck searching it and trying to follow a thread in any kind of timely way.
There's also an original Sunrise in the EV Album:
http://www.austinev.org/evalbum/655.html
And
now I'm going to work on the ForkenSwift. No more posts this afternoon!