Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/04/17/for-sale-a-1958-nash-metropol.html
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Yikes, how much does it weigh?
More importantly…can you get it out of second gear?
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My guess, just from looking at the photos, is around 2250 lbs [cough]
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Yeah, I saw that after I put my glasses on.
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It weighs much, much less than a Prius.
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Nash Metropolitan. According to Wonder Warthog, it wasn’t exactly a fast car.
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Generally speaking, EVs weigh far more than comparable ICE vehicles.
The exception being the Tesla, not because it isn’t heavy, but simply because it is in a class of its own, there are no comparable ICE vehicles.
Conversions need to have this extra weight accommodated, which can be very costly and difficult, except in the case of vehicles already designed to carry extra weight, which is why pickup trucks (like the Chevy S10 for example) are very inexpensive conversions.
Judging by the pictures, this is a very clean conversion, and I would expect that the “chassis improvements and upgrades” are to handle the extra weight and improved weight distribution, but I’d ask before buying anyway.
Range and recharge time are always an issue, do not purchase any EV without making sure it will work for you. Our Leaf has an 80 mile range and with the 240VAC charger it recharges overnight from a full discharge. If we had not got the 240VAC charging capability the recharge time would make the car completely impractical for us. You need to pay attention to these details.
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It’s a very cute car - how many clowns come with it?
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Notice that they mention the heater, but, no mention of air conditioning.
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Eh, I’ll hold out for the EV Rambler, thanks all the same.
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Trust me when I say that the Nash Metropolitan is no Nash Rambler.
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Because it’s for sale in Portland Oregon. You’d only need AC for maybe a week or two each year.
You clearly have not spent time here late June–early September.
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I grew up in Vancouver, WA. So yeah, I have. None of our cars ever had (working) AC and we didn’t care.
Actually, the exception being the Tesla because it uses lightweight lithium instead of super-heavy lead in its battery pack.
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All this. And now a days, lithium isn’t that much more expensive compared to the power density and weight savings.
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My Prius is also using lithium in one of its battery packs (Nimh in the other, plus a very small flooded lead acid battery that really only exists so I can jump-start other cars). Yet it is quite heavy, and has a very limited EV range.
But in true EVs, well, in the majority of EVs, you’ll carry the maximum weight of batteries your frame can support. If the batteries are lighter, then you load more of them, because range is the entire issue with EVs. The Tesla has well over a thousand pounds of lithium batteries.
And seriously, the Telsa isn’t equivalent to any ICE vehicle. It just isn’t; for one thing there aren’t any gas engines that develop 100% torque from a dead stop.
EDIT: Just noticed the topical car, the Nash conversion, is using Thundersky lithiums. Really a very sharp looking piece of work… all it needs are some nixie tubes in the dashpanel!
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Yeah, that’s the problem. Too many EV’s look like effing Noddy mobiles. Build one that looks like this and I am interested.
Reminds me of the weird Flower electric car from the episode of Pushing Daisies with one half of Garfunkel and Oates:
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