$2500.00 car.

[Canadian Cadence]

When you read articles like this one you can really see why the e-bike revolution is not progressing faster and how our environment is in grave danger.
When you look at this car you wonder what the price of a good e-bike would be if it was awarded this much attention by a large manufacturer.
Tata unveils world's cheapest car - Yahoo! News
check out the pictures and video links at the bottom of article.

 

[flecc]

It's not really a matter of giving one attention, so much as the potential market.

A manufacturer could blow lots of money on developing a superb e-bike and get little return and probably end up losing money. The same amount spent on a car's development like that Tata model can pay off handsomely with many millions of models sold.

So it's not a matter of energy input, just economics, and the fact that people yearn for a car, not a bicycle.

A footnote though, possibly not much has been spent on that Tata, as it looks like a blatant rip-off of the Mitsubishi i Car, seen here:

 

[jha07]

I think the ebike revolution would speed up a whole lot if gas prices doubled or tripled. I can see the point that such a cheap car would allow more people to drive and therefore cause more pollution. But personally, I would still feel better if the roads are full of smalls car, and not huge SUVs.

 

[Jeremy]

Out of interest, what are the fuel prices like in Canada now? Here prices are floating around $2.10 CAD per litre and rising. Despite very expensive fuel, people here still go out and buy big, fuel-guzzling cars, so maybe just hiking the fuel price just isn't enough to make a difference.

At least it looks as if that little Tata will be reasonably economical to run with it's 600cc low emissions engine. It might well cause less pollution than the two stroke scooters that it's aiming to replace on India's roads. It's very common to see very heavily overloaded scooters, often with three people on board plus piles of luggage, on the roads in any big city in India. The overloading makes an already poor emissions vehicle even worse, I'm sure.

Jeremy

 

[jha07]

The gas prices in Canada are dirt cheap, around $1.05 CAD / litre. But even at this price, you'd be surprised how many people complain that gas cost too much. I believe you when you say people still drive large cars where you are with high gas prices. But i'd be willing to bet that the percentage of SUVs and Trucks vs small cars are higher in Canada and USA compared to the UK.

 

[flecc]

The very similar 600cc Mitsubishi i car that I suspect the Tata is a copy of has a rating of 114 g/km CO2 (£35 UK road tax) and combined mpg of 49.6, so quite environmentally friendly.

As Jeremy says, environmentally better than those grossly overloaded two stroke scooters.
.

 

[Canadian Cadence]

I agree it would be nice if all the large SUV were replaced by the smaller vehicles but the problem seems to be in India and China were these vehicles will increase the carbon footprint of each individual in an already very heavy populated area.
Yes (as JHA07 reported) the gas prices are high right now in my area of the country at $1.03 CAD per litre and everyone is using their SUV to commute to the big city and this is about 120 km each way!!! The distances that people travel is unreal in this country. You do see the odd Smart car but more likely to see a truck , SUV or Hummer doing the commute.
I just find it amazing that this vehicle can be produced at this price and the cost of electric bikes are so high.

 

[giguana]

imagine sitting in this car in India, the seats are made of black PVC plastic, imagine your sweaty bum at 30°C! presumably the air-conditioning option is a grand extra,

the reason why the company is able to produce cars so cheaply is that it has bought half of the iron works in the world including chorus which was Britain's only steel company, half owned with Holland in fact.

it is basically a rickshaw or a 2cv with modern technology, I was really unhappy to find that it wasn't the air propelled motor.!

India has the worst traffic jams and the most dangerous drivers in the world! They believe in fate, what will happen will happen! Well some of them do-despite being wonderful wonderful amazing people