Last year in December, Aptera Motors, a startup based in California, took pre-orders for a tiny electric car. It was partially solar-powered as well. They gave it a quirky design with just three wheels. It costs anywhere from $25,900 to $44,900. By this month, Aptera may be having a new competitor – Squad Mobility. These two vehicles could only be compared before the addition of solar panels.
New Electric Cars by The Squad Mobility
Squad Mobility is an Amsterdam-based startup that started taking pre-orders for the Squad car. The car is as small as just 2 meters long and 1.2 meters wide. It is a two-seater vehicle invented to be driven only within the city, with a maximum speed of 28 miles per hour. Due to petiteness, one can fit three or four if you park them real close, in an average parking space.
This tiny car has solar panels on the roof and can cover up to 12 miles when charged fully on a sunny day. This is quite a long route and can cover many city errands and even short business commutes. The car also has a battery that can be used if an individual needs to drive farther than the given limit. You can efficiently charge this battery using any wall outlet.
The starting price of this car is $6,823. It is initially limited to 28 mph, but the upgraded versions may reach up to 43 mph. It’s as small as the size of a bicycle and perfect for two people or one going out for groceries!
The inventors of this tiny electric car claim that people don’t need a license or a helmet to drive their solar car. However, this sounds quite contrary to the typical expectations and feels like a formula for getting injured. Doesn’t that remind you of a Golf cart, but it’s only driven in the golf courses and not on the busy streets! Even if it can’t exceed the speed of 28 miles per hour and can’t do much damage, then what about the non-Squad cars? Thus, this is quite a counter-intuitive claim and must not be considered by users.
Are Electric Cars Eco-Friendly?
Although electric cars are manufactured to reduce the increasing climate change issue, they may not be functioning to cut emissions completely. Last year, a senior economist at the Institute of Energy Research said electric cars might not emit pollutants from the tailpipe, but they emit them at the power plant.
Solar cars are unique, but inventions by Aptera and Squad Mobility are just the beginning. Manufacturers need to make significant advances in solar technology before it is widely used in cars.
Written by: Faiza Amin
Reported by: Imaaz Nadeem
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