FVT eVaro plug-in serial hybrid

[NeilBlanchard]

Greetings,

I'm growing more interested in the FVT eVaro, which is a 3-wheeled plug-in serial hybrid:

The gasoline version got 92mpg, and the eVaro is electric front wheel drive, and has a fuel vaporizing (for efficient combustion) onboard charger that can charge it in 1 hour. Plug-in charging (220v) takes ~3 hours, and the all electric range is ~100 miles. This vehicle is very fast (0-60mph in ~5 seconds!) and it is capable of 1.2G turns.

Here's the claims they make for the eVaro:

* Between 122 mpge and 325 mpge
(miles per gallon equivalent)
* 100-125 mile range on electricity alone
* unlimited extended range with onboard FVT gas generator
* 3 hour re-charge time plug in at home, 1 hour with FVT on board generator

I don't know what they mean by "unlimited extended range" -- surely the fuel tank range would be a better thing to talk about? "Unlimited" sounds too good to be true; even if they just mean that you can refuel it...

My biggest reservations about it are the canopy entry, and the somewhat cramped (looking) rear seat. It may be a 1+1, in reality. I like the small team built in the garage aspect -- they built 3 or 4 prototypes (or more?) with less than $1M (Canadian?). And I like the quote they have on their web page:

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.
Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead

[NeilBlanchard]

From this PDF:

The eVaro weighs a mere 1250 lbs., turns 0-60 times of five seconds and has a top speed of 135 mph. The new series hybrid achieves an amazing 275 mpg equivalent (MPGe) for city driving (15-40 mph) and 165 MPGe for highway driving (45-75 mph), and a range of 65-90 miles (electric)

The mileage numbers are from tests done by University of the Fraser Valley, in British Columbia.

[rgathright]

I would like to see a more economical model of this car.

Any ideas when we could see some pricing?

[rbrowning]

I have been interested in the tandem seat arrangement for a long time. I think it is a great way to reduce frontal area and lower drag. Unfortunately they didn't have their model at the Detroit Auto show along with the other X-prize contestants, only a picture on the wall. I wanted to check out the front seat elbow room, but none of the contestant vehicles were open for inspection.

When I was doing 125 miles a day, this was exactly what I wanted. I traveled alone, I could get a cheap charge at home and I would never get stranded with a dead battery.

[NeilBlanchard]

An update from FVT, on the eVaro.

[vinny1989]

Shame its so ugly, the front at least..

[love the evaro]

Originally Posted by vinny1989

Shame its so ugly, the front at least..

There are a lot of ugly cars out there like the Hummer, the Smart car ect. ect. people need to get past what looks cool and start looking at what works best to reduce harmful emissions, this will take an attitude change, The looks of the eVaro are a result of taking full advantage of aerodynamics in order to push the envelope for miles per gallon e, the back of the vehicle needs to be streamlined in order to take full advantage of aerodynamic drag thus the three wheeled concept, This car was designed to produce high mileage at high way speeds like no other car in the world

[cfg83]

love the evaro -

You seem to be a fan. Can you talk about the "why" of the aero choices, especially up front? They seem to have a "cow catcher" design in the pointy/slanty shape of the nose.

CarloSW2

[love the evaro]

Originally Posted by cfg83

love the evaro -

You seem to be a fan. Can you talk about the "why" of the aero choices, especially up front? They seem to have a "cow catcher" design in the pointy/slanty shape of the nose.

CarloSW2

The "cow catcher" was to prevent air from building up under the car for high speed stability, as for the rest of the car, in order to make a car perform and handle well you need a great running gear and frame design, then you need to accommodate the batteries and then there is the generator if you ever want to drive more the 100 miles at a time, once you have every thing you need then you need to cover all this technical stuff with a body, not just any body but one that is as aerodynamic as you can make that covers all the neat stuff under the hood, the shape of the eVaro is not what attracts me to it as much as how it performs and how many miles per gallon equivalent it gets, also the high performance of this car, it has a lot more cargo space in it then you would expect, it caries two people very comfortably, it has great visibility and is very easy to get in and out of, there is two side trunks on either side that are big enough for a set of gulf clubs in each side and a few bags of groceries, then there is a rear trunk that easily caries two groceries buggies worth of stuff, this car can really handle. I like to drive aggressively at times so I totally enjoy the windy high ways, it also gets over three hundred miles per gallon, this was verified by the University of Fraser Valley the new FVT eVaro has twin motors gets substantially better mileage, the best part of the eVaro is it was designed and built in CANADA

[NeilBlanchard]

Are the two motors hub motors?