7 ms·

Vega, Sri Lanka's All-Electric Supercar

53 points by vpj 12y ago

BillinghamJ 12y ago
Amusingly, that page is not visible within the UK... -_-
- easytiger 12y ago
  BBC Worldwide are really starting to piss me off.
  - peteretep 12y ago
    Why don't you blame the private sector companies who complain about unfair competition from the BBC instead?
- tonylemesmer 12y ago
  kind of not amusing :/
statictype 12y ago
Very weird (in a good way) to see an article about Sri Lanka here
- arthalbuwa 12y ago
  true that
rukittenme 12y ago
I find it really interesting that they site the internet as a source of their intellectual capital. Really shows how humanity is progressing.
pm90 12y ago
Wow, that car looks really nice. Is it easy to design a car to be so beautiful? If so, why don't we have more lower end cars with such beautiful designs?
- huuu 12y ago
  Well it's easy to create nice looking 3D models (like the renders in the article). But designing a real car is something completely different. Aerodynamics, weight, space, it's all what costs a lot of R&D. I think this is why Tesla was working with Lotus on the Roadster. It's very hard to design a car from scratch. But lets hope they succeed. It might be a good boost for the country.
- arethuza 12y ago
  "which is expected to cost an Aventador-like $400,000" I suppose is low-end compared to a Pagani Huayra or other obsessively engineered hypercars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga7_w4Ib2MM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga7_w4Ib2MM
- danielbarla 12y ago
  I guess the form of the car is very much a trade off of competing interests - cost to build, ease of maintenance, available space, etc. Since you asked specifically about lower end cars, I'd say it's just that supercars have their preferences set very differently than low end cars. Nobody cares if this car doesn't have good boot space, or is expensive to repair.
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th3iedkid 12y ago
>> “This country produces some of the best engineers in the world, but in the past we’ve been afraid to commit to innovative product development for fear of losing, or being ridiculed." >>“With the vast amount of data available online, we are able to learn and build expertise that we would otherwise lack,”. Interesting to note , given how remote the country is and how its evolving in this time frame.
- yalogin 12y ago
  What do you mean by it being remote? It's next to India.
tonylemesmer 12y ago
alternative article (visible to UK users) : http://www.motoroids.com/news/meet-vega-900hp-electric-supercar-sri-lanka/ http://www.motoroids.com/news/meet-vega-900hp-electric-super...
6stringmerc 12y ago
Neat concept car, looks nice but not exactly revolutionary. As an auto enthusiast, I'll point out that it may very well exist, but it is likely little more than vaporware. Well, I mean if just going by what the builders claim it can do, then sure, all kinds of things are possible from all sorts of little shade-tree shops. Once it gets in the hands of auto journalists with actual testing equipment, and meets a real road, well, that's when I'll toast to the company.
- jeffcox 12y ago
  >Neat concept car, looks nice but not exactly revolutionary. Exactly. If they really wanted to wow the world they would have figured out how to make a more accessible electric vehicle that has a range long enough for the average person to consider buying.
  - arethuza 12y ago
    I usually don't drive very much but when I do it tends to be 6 or 7 hours (I drove for 9 hours yesterday) - so I'd actually be fine with a "normal" long distance car and a wee electric town car like the Renault Twizy - which is really cheap as well - but odd looking, but maybe that's the price of being revolutionary: http://www.renault.co.uk/cars/electric-vehicles/twizy/twizy/ http://www.renault.co.uk/cars/electric-vehicles/twizy/twizy/
    - sah2ed 12y ago
      How much does the Renault Twizy cost?
      - arethuza 12y ago
        About £7000 depending on model.
- jkestner 12y ago
  Yeah, this sounds more like CrunchPad-level PR. Someone without experience making a car is going to make one. Notable because of the country only. There are not a lot of roads in Sri Lanka where you can drive that kind of car, either. But electric car range is perfect for the country — you can drive from the west coast to the east on one charge.

53 points by vpj 12y ago

BillinghamJ 12y ago

Amusingly, that page is not visible within the UK... -_-

easytiger 12y ago
BBC Worldwide are really starting to piss me off.
- peteretep 12y ago
  Why don't you blame the private sector companies who complain about unfair competition from the BBC instead?
tonylemesmer 12y ago
kind of not amusing :/

statictype 12y ago

Very weird (in a good way) to see an article about Sri Lanka here

arthalbuwa 12y ago
true that

rukittenme 12y ago

I find it really interesting that they site the internet as a source of their intellectual capital. Really shows how humanity is progressing.

pm90 12y ago

Wow, that car looks really nice. Is it easy to design a car to be so beautiful? If so, why don't we have more lower end cars with such beautiful designs?

huuu 12y ago
Well it's easy to create nice looking 3D models (like the renders in the article). But designing a real car is something completely different. Aerodynamics, weight, space, it's all what costs a lot of R&D. I think this is why Tesla was working with Lotus on the Roadster. It's very hard to design a car from scratch. But lets hope they succeed. It might be a good boost for the country.
arethuza 12y ago
"which is expected to cost an Aventador-like $400,000" I suppose is low-end compared to a Pagani Huayra or other obsessively engineered hypercars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga7_w4Ib2MM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga7_w4Ib2MM
danielbarla 12y ago
I guess the form of the car is very much a trade off of competing interests - cost to build, ease of maintenance, available space, etc. Since you asked specifically about lower end cars, I'd say it's just that supercars have their preferences set very differently than low end cars. Nobody cares if this car doesn't have good boot space, or is expensive to repair.

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deleted 12y ago

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th3iedkid 12y ago

>> “This country produces some of the best engineers in the world, but in the past we’ve been afraid to commit to innovative product development for fear of losing, or being ridiculed." >>“With the vast amount of data available online, we are able to learn and build expertise that we would otherwise lack,”. Interesting to note , given how remote the country is and how its evolving in this time frame.

yalogin 12y ago
What do you mean by it being remote? It's next to India.

tonylemesmer 12y ago

alternative article (visible to UK users) : http://www.motoroids.com/news/meet-vega-900hp-electric-supercar-sri-lanka/ http://www.motoroids.com/news/meet-vega-900hp-electric-super...

6stringmerc 12y ago

Neat concept car, looks nice but not exactly revolutionary. As an auto enthusiast, I'll point out that it may very well exist, but it is likely little more than vaporware. Well, I mean if just going by what the builders claim it can do, then sure, all kinds of things are possible from all sorts of little shade-tree shops. Once it gets in the hands of auto journalists with actual testing equipment, and meets a real road, well, that's when I'll toast to the company.

jeffcox 12y ago
>Neat concept car, looks nice but not exactly revolutionary. Exactly. If they really wanted to wow the world they would have figured out how to make a more accessible electric vehicle that has a range long enough for the average person to consider buying.
- arethuza 12y ago
  I usually don't drive very much but when I do it tends to be 6 or 7 hours (I drove for 9 hours yesterday) - so I'd actually be fine with a "normal" long distance car and a wee electric town car like the Renault Twizy - which is really cheap as well - but odd looking, but maybe that's the price of being revolutionary: http://www.renault.co.uk/cars/electric-vehicles/twizy/twizy/ http://www.renault.co.uk/cars/electric-vehicles/twizy/twizy/
  - sah2ed 12y ago
    How much does the Renault Twizy cost?
    - arethuza 12y ago
      About £7000 depending on model.
jkestner 12y ago
Yeah, this sounds more like CrunchPad-level PR. Someone without experience making a car is going to make one. Notable because of the country only. There are not a lot of roads in Sri Lanka where you can drive that kind of car, either. But electric car range is perfect for the country — you can drive from the west coast to the east on one charge.