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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Fill 'er up - with electricity please! |
| 2007-01-26 |
| Only from Rooters! TOKYO (Reuters Life!) - Your car may become just another household appliance if a Japanese vehicle developer and former rally driver gets his way. Uh, not if you get a load of the price tag below. Of course, I don't have a tip jar like Fred, so who am I to complain? Yoshio Takaoka, in collaboration with Italy's Start Lab SAP, has created the Girasole, a fully functional electric car that can be fueled from a home power outlet. The highway-worthy two seater reaches speeds of 65 km per hour (41 mp/h) and travels distances of up to a 120 km on a full battery, which costs about $1. All of this performance for $2+ million? What a bargain! I reach speeds of 41 mph in my neighborhood, this thing wouldn't last a day on the Atlanta interstates. "Previously I was a polluter but as I grew older I felt I had to do penance for this and do something good in return," Takaoka, 63, told Fuji TV, referring to his rally driving heydays. Mods, he's just askin' for the "Wash away your sins" graphic. The Girasole, which means sunflower in Italian, retails for about $2.2 million but drivers can claim a $6,600 subsidy from the government under an environmental protection clause. For all you non-mathmeticians out there, that means it only costs $2.1934 million, not $2.2 million, but who's countin'? Japanese consumers who test drove the car were impressed by its quietness. But the car comes equipped with the clip-clop sound of horse hooves hitting the pavement to alert pedestrians and other drivers. Maybe in Williamsburg or Yorktown, but I'd imagine the average Tokyo resident would want the sounds of Godzilla instead. |
| Posted by:BA |
| #9 Tape record A suzuki 50cc Reving up, it would be much more appropriate |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2007-01-26 19:27 |
| #8 Of course, every wreck will be a hazmat site! Nothing better for the enviroment than loads of cadmium and lithium spread around. Heavy metal poisoning is good for you. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2007-01-26 19:24 |
| #7 electric cars with clip-clop sounds: the Japanese Amish will be soooo conflicted! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-01-26 19:08 |
| #6 Yeah, I thought that too. It would make sense they converted the write off but not the purchase price of the car. The Japanese are huge on cutsy noises ... everything there makes a cutsy noise, even toilets. I esp. like the propane delivery trucks! |
| Posted by: bombay 2007-01-26 16:54 |
| #5 I like the part about the car making clip-clop. Now for complete illusion let ait also unload some horse guano. |
| Posted by: JFM 2007-01-26 16:02 |
| #4 But then government subsidy would be fifty dollars, it can't be so low. |
| Posted by: JFM 2007-01-26 16:01 |
| #3 That has to be in Yen, which depending on rates, is around $17,000 - $21,000 I've been in tiny, tiny Japanese cars over there with traditional gasoline engines that can barely clear 41 mph. Driving in Tokyo or Osaka or any of the large citites is insane, I don't know how they do it. For people that want to have cars, this could be a good option. Many, Many people in Japan don't even have a car ... I say give me JR Pass and forget the car and all is good. |
| Posted by: bombay 2007-01-26 15:24 |
| #2 Maybe in Japanese traffic 41 mph is sufficent but anywhere else thats what we call a golf cart. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2007-01-26 13:30 |
| #1 2 million what? Lira? It can't be dollars, must be a typo. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-01-26 11:52 |