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That is still a normal car, although very compact. Plus at 1000kg it is still more heavy than most of the petrol city cars we have in Europe. The article

That is still a normal car, although very compact. Plus at 1000kg it is still more heavy than most of the petrol city cars we have in Europe. The article is about smaller cars, that are sometimes not even 'cars' when it comes to regulation. We are speaking of Citroen Ami, Renault Twizzy, Microlino ... EVs around 500kg.

gambiting 4y ago
Yeah I'm aware, sorry - I just meant to say that it presents a compelling EV alternative to 2 tonne+ EVs that seem to be the predominant option now, because everyone expects 300 miles of range from their car even if they practically never need it. (Also yes, petrol city cars are lighter, but not that much lighter - a Citroen C1 clocks in at 815kg for example)
- tromp 4y ago
  And this LUV is less than half of that at 400kg, or 2.5x lighter than the VW Up!, while costing only about half of the latter. And at 10miles per KwH, it is way more efficient too, as efficient as the Aptera (despite having a vastly larger aerodynamic drag coefficient from the look of it).
  - gambiting 4y ago
    Very true - I really don't have anything else to say other than agree.
logifail 4y ago
> That is still a normal car, although very compact We have a VW Up, but it's the ICE (petrol) version. It's a great car for up to four people. EDIT: (just been out and checked the paperwork, it weighs in at ~900kg) It's around four years old and we've done around 36k miles. It cost just under $11k new, everything included (although they're now $15k and you'd better be quick, VW are discontinuing them this year). The e-Up has already been discontinued. It's a fantastic car, it's easy to park, easy to drive, really economical. We looked at the e-Up, but it was significantly more than twice as expensive compared to the petrol version, with a massively reduced range. I'd love to have had enough "spare money" to have picked the e-Up instead of the ICE version, but spending an additional $25k to get a mostly inferior vehicle just wasn't an option. Where do we go from here?
- gambiting 4y ago
  >>The e-Up has already been discontinued. I don't think it has, at least here in UK the dealers were told to stop taking new orders because they have enough to see them until the end of 2023, but Volkswagen has confirmed they will continue making the e-Up at least until the ID.1 arrives and replaces it. >>but spending an additional $25k to get a mostly inferior vehicle just wasn't an option. So maybe we just lucked out, but we got ours on a lease deal, £199/month with no upfront cost. The petrol version was marginally cheaper at £149/month or something like that - the difference is easily made up in the savings on petrol and maintenance. Of course it means we will never fully own it, but at that cost it beat pretty much any other option available on the market.
  - logifail 4y ago
    > I don't think it has, at least here in UK the dealers were told to stop taking new orders because they have enough to see them until the end of 2023, but Volkswagen has confirmed they will continue making the e-Up at least until the ID.1 arrives and replaces it Ah, I've just done more research and you're right, it seems the e-Up has made a comeback, although the list price has jumped to EUR30k/GBP26.5k/USD32.5k. Back when I first saw it the list price was EUR23k > we got ours on a lease deal, £199/month with no upfront cost. The petrol version was marginally cheaper at £149/month or something like that - the difference is easily made up in the savings on petrol and maintenance If we'd had that option I'd have chosen the e-Up in a heartbeat! Well done :)
- lelanthran 4y ago
  > I'd love to have had enough "spare money" to have picked the e-Up instead of the ICE version, but spending an additional $25k to get a mostly inferior vehicle just wasn't an option. I didn't think that the difference would be that large. Is it just a function of supply and demand (charging what the market will bear, and not cost+profit)?
  - gambiting 4y ago
    Apparently(and this is just hearsay so treat it with a grain of salt) the replacement battery for one of these is about 10k euro, so that alone explains a big chunk of difference in price between the e-Up and its petrol brother. Batteries are just expensive and there's no good way around it. (on the plus side, the battery capacity of the e-Up has literally DOUBLED few years back, from 18kWh to 36kWh, and yet the price remained the same - so the market is producing cheaper - per kWh - batteries)
WirelessGigabit 4y ago
Wow, has it gone down that much in Europe? My BMW 120d was still 1,400kg.

gambiting 4y ago

Yeah I'm aware, sorry - I just meant to say that it presents a compelling EV alternative to 2 tonne+ EVs that seem to be the predominant option now, because everyone expects 300 miles of range from their car even if they practically never need it. (Also yes, petrol city cars are lighter, but not that much lighter - a Citroen C1 clocks in at 815kg for example)

tromp 4y ago
And this LUV is less than half of that at 400kg, or 2.5x lighter than the VW Up!, while costing only about half of the latter. And at 10miles per KwH, it is way more efficient too, as efficient as the Aptera (despite having a vastly larger aerodynamic drag coefficient from the look of it).
- gambiting 4y ago
  Very true - I really don't have anything else to say other than agree.

logifail 4y ago

> That is still a normal car, although very compact We have a VW Up, but it's the ICE (petrol) version. It's a great car for up to four people. EDIT: (just been out and checked the paperwork, it weighs in at ~900kg) It's around four years old and we've done around 36k miles. It cost just under $11k new, everything included (although they're now $15k and you'd better be quick, VW are discontinuing them this year). The e-Up has already been discontinued. It's a fantastic car, it's easy to park, easy to drive, really economical. We looked at the e-Up, but it was significantly more than twice as expensive compared to the petrol version, with a massively reduced range. I'd love to have had enough "spare money" to have picked the e-Up instead of the ICE version, but spending an additional $25k to get a mostly inferior vehicle just wasn't an option. Where do we go from here?

gambiting 4y ago
>>The e-Up has already been discontinued. I don't think it has, at least here in UK the dealers were told to stop taking new orders because they have enough to see them until the end of 2023, but Volkswagen has confirmed they will continue making the e-Up at least until the ID.1 arrives and replaces it. >>but spending an additional $25k to get a mostly inferior vehicle just wasn't an option. So maybe we just lucked out, but we got ours on a lease deal, £199/month with no upfront cost. The petrol version was marginally cheaper at £149/month or something like that - the difference is easily made up in the savings on petrol and maintenance. Of course it means we will never fully own it, but at that cost it beat pretty much any other option available on the market.
- logifail 4y ago
  > I don't think it has, at least here in UK the dealers were told to stop taking new orders because they have enough to see them until the end of 2023, but Volkswagen has confirmed they will continue making the e-Up at least until the ID.1 arrives and replaces it Ah, I've just done more research and you're right, it seems the e-Up has made a comeback, although the list price has jumped to EUR30k/GBP26.5k/USD32.5k. Back when I first saw it the list price was EUR23k > we got ours on a lease deal, £199/month with no upfront cost. The petrol version was marginally cheaper at £149/month or something like that - the difference is easily made up in the savings on petrol and maintenance If we'd had that option I'd have chosen the e-Up in a heartbeat! Well done :)
lelanthran 4y ago
> I'd love to have had enough "spare money" to have picked the e-Up instead of the ICE version, but spending an additional $25k to get a mostly inferior vehicle just wasn't an option. I didn't think that the difference would be that large. Is it just a function of supply and demand (charging what the market will bear, and not cost+profit)?
- gambiting 4y ago
  Apparently(and this is just hearsay so treat it with a grain of salt) the replacement battery for one of these is about 10k euro, so that alone explains a big chunk of difference in price between the e-Up and its petrol brother. Batteries are just expensive and there's no good way around it. (on the plus side, the battery capacity of the e-Up has literally DOUBLED few years back, from 18kWh to 36kWh, and yet the price remained the same - so the market is producing cheaper - per kWh - batteries)

WirelessGigabit 4y ago

Wow, has it gone down that much in Europe? My BMW 120d was still 1,400kg.