Anyone heard of this? Kandi Viper 250MD reverse trike.

[radiantthought]

So, for background here. A few months back I got super excited about the Ecomotive Eco-Exo kit car, but balked when I found out that the Suzuki Bergman donor vehicle does not have a reverse gear. I was originally thinking it would be a great platform for aeromodding. Unfortunately, without the ability to reverse gears, or to stick my feet out and push off as their forums suggested, it just didn't make sense.

Today, I was tooling around the net and stumbled upon the Kandi Viper 250MD. This vehicle appears to have solved the eco-exo's reverse problem and comes pretty much ready to roll for a similar price point. After doing a little shopping around, it seems a number of dealers sell them for around $6k, which seems reasonable to me.

Has anyone looked into, or even driven, one of these? Any thoughts?

Also, I wasn't sure if this should go in the motorcycle/scooter section or not. I thought since it's much more car-like than motorcycle-like that this seemed like a better place. If I was wrong, by all means move it.

[rmay635703]

Good lord, that site used to hawk Kandi Cocos, I figured they were out of business.

[radiantthought]

Originally Posted by rmay635703

Good lord, that site used to hawk Kandi Cocos, I figured they were out of business.

I'm not familiar, but the way you say that doesn't sound good. Care to elaborate?

From what I see it looks like an all-electric smart car knockoff.

[freebeard]

Coincidentally, the forum software is serving up to me an Elio Motors ad.

$6800... air-bags...

[radiantthought]

I love the Elio concept, I hope it works out, I'd love to buy one if they ever come to market. This actually exists right now though. I even found a scooter/atv place about 50 miles away that carries them. Maybe I'll head up there sometime and see if I can grab a test drive.

[ecoTex]

40 mph top speed would be a problem for me. Looks fun though

[niky]

I believe that means that the Kandi line-up is sourced from China... probably from one of the hundreds of small car suppliers on Alibaba.com. The Coco looks exactly like a Chinese EV.

[radiantthought]

Originally Posted by niky

I believe that means that the Kandi line-up is sourced from China... probably from one of the hundreds of small car suppliers on Alibaba.com. The Coco looks exactly like a Chinese EV.

Yeah, I came across that when I was looking into it earlier. Apparently the company is called Zhejiang Kangdi Vehicles, but decided Kandi sounded a little better for western markets. From that article it sounds like QC is pretty hit or miss, which is a shame. I wish there was more affordable competition in this market segment.

[redpoint5]

Why do they use motorcycle tires when the profile isn't utilized? Motorcycle tires are expensive, and if the profile isn't used, will wear out quickly.

[radiantthought]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Why do they use motorcycle tires when the profile isn't utilized? Motorcycle tires are expensive, and if the profile isn't used, will wear out quickly.

You must be talking about the eco-exo, the kandi viper uses 165/70R13 tires all around. The reason I'd guess the eco-exo uses motorcycle tires is because its steering system is designed to use the front end from the suzuki bergman. They seem to like to use as much of the donor vehicle as possible, so that falls in line with that.