Pininfarina to unveil its electric car this Autumn
It has been a while but there is finally news of the Pininfarina / Bolloré electric car project. First the good news. According to Channel 4 it will be sold in America as well as Europe and Japan. The bad news? There is no bad news, only more juicy tidbits like; the concept will debut at the Paris Motor Show in October and once we get our heads around that, the production model reveal is scheduled for the Geneva Auto Show in the Spring. Like that? There's more! The supermini with Pininfarina badging (not pictured above) should seat four and cost in the neighborhood of €15,000. That's $23,295.75 in American greenbacks at today's exchange rate.
Although it will be powered by the Bolloré battery from France it will be innately Italian with the Pininfarina-designed coachwork sculpting being performed at its San Giorgio factory. That facility is now used to build the Spider and Brera for Alfa Romeo but that production work will be moved to its Bairo facility. There is a promise from Pininfarina that it will get 155 miles to a charge and although it will take five hours to completely fill it up from empty, a five-minute quickie will get you 15 miles down the road. We look forward to hearing more and are dusting off our Italian. Bene.
[Source: Channel 4]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mark 4:27PM (5/06/2008)
any word on how fast it can go??
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Rick 9:35PM (5/06/2008)
Car manufacturers need to start designing 4 door electeric cars. Seriously, do only single people want an electric car?
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GoodCheer 5:25PM (5/06/2008)
Never mind how fast it can go (I assume it's more than 100 kmph / 60 mph). 4 seats, 155 miles for $25k is sure to be a winner.
Almost makes me think they're just blowing smoke up our a$$es... but I'll hold out hope.
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Kevin Nugent 6:24PM (5/06/2008)
Looks alot like the smart . If smart could do this to their projected ev smart car then they would have a 4 year waiting list instead of a two and it would be for a electric version . In any event Pininfarina has been in the media more than adqeutly for some good ingenious , practical innovations that will be available to the average consumer. s Kind of like the xoxo company . they make products that make sense and solve problems. Sometimes you wonder "somebody else could not come up with this sooner"
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james 9:32PM (5/06/2008)
How do you fit four people into that car??? Maybe if they are 5, or legless.
In any case, good for the Italians! Bravo!
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ug 7:05PM (5/06/2008)
The bad news is it's italian. I.e. Fix It Again Tony.
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1985 Gripen 7:39PM (5/06/2008)
The specs sound great. The price is affordable and I can definitely deal with that range. The fact that a five minute charge will get you 15 miles down the road should help counter those anti-EV folks and their "stuck in the middle of nowhere and charging for hours" scare tactics.
I would like to see the results of safety tests (crash tests). Electric cars tend to favor light weight for better range at the detriment of structural integrity. Hopefully this is as crash-worthy as the Smart ForTwo.
The only knock I have on it is that Italian cars are usually beautiful. If that pic is what it's going to look like it's a bit disappointing. It looks a nerd-mobile. I know there's a way to make a car aerodynamic AND hot-looking. Pininfarina has done it many times before.
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Nathaniel Sears 10:36PM (5/06/2008)
luckily it wont look like this. the price and range are great. another electric car to add to the list!!!
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Mh 9:02PM (5/06/2008)
It sure looks like a reskin'ed SmartCar to me. The range and charge time looks reasonable, though. I wonder what the top speed is.
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meme 10:48PM (5/06/2008)
The specs sound tenable, except for that price. I don't buy that for a second unless they're planning to wait five to ten years before they start making them. Add $5-10k onto it and it'll be realistic.
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Wave54 12:07AM (5/07/2008)
From PureGreenCars.com:
The paper said French users could claim a government grant of 5,000 euros of the total price of around 24,000 to buy the car.
The four-seat Pininfarina electric car will provide a 250km range in city driving and is designed to operate for more than 200,000km.
Thanks to the battery’s large capacity, the Pininfarina electric car will have a very fast standing start (zero to 50 km/h in 4.9 seconds), sufficient acceleration to overtake other vehicles safely and a top speed of 130 km/h. It will also be fully automatic.
From GreenCarCongress.com:
The Pininfarina electric vehicle will be marketed simultaneously in Europe, the United States and in Japan. It can be ordered from December 2008 and the first clients will receive their vehicles at the end of summer 2009. Pricing is €500 (US$720)/month.
At Pininfarina's own website (bottom of page), the car is listed as a two-seater. Looking at the pictures, I can't see the possibility of rear seating.
http://www.pininfarina.com/index/storiaModelli/Auto-Elettrica/city-car-Pininfarina
Sounds like either a lease plan or possibly 24,000 euros ($37,200), which sounds more reasonable with 155 mile range.
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Domenick Yoney 12:44AM (5/07/2008)
@Wave54:
Thanks for posting. Most of the info you mention from other sites is in my post though. As far as the Nido is concerned, it is just an electric concept from 4 years ago and is NOT what the new vehicle will look like. The Nido was a two seater and the new one will seat four.
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kert 4:13AM (5/07/2008)
The Pininfarina-Bollore parntership has been ongoing for a while, there are some nice videos on their prototype Blue Car on youtube
http://youtube.com/watch?v=GgaoWd5WvWI
I warn thee, these are french. But its obvious they have got the technology pinned down.
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kert 4:17AM (5/07/2008)
Oh, and as for "how do you fit five people in it" i recommend take a look at BlueCar tech presentations here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bollor%C3%A9_Blue_Car
There are nice drawings of internals of the car, where the batteries go and where the motors are. Its clear that electric drive opens up a new world for body and interior designers.
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Throwback 8:17AM (5/07/2008)
I am glad they are doing a 4 seater. It will be interesting to see how the advertise the pininfarina brand in the USA. Only car enthusiasts in the USA know the name and history.
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KarenRei 12:14PM (5/07/2008)
Wave54: Thanks; that price I *can* find believable.
People just need to learn to do a logic check whenever someone posts incredible vehicle stats here and not just trust that they're true. You're not going to get battery packs using automotive variants of li-ion batteries for less than $0.50/Wh, so that's a good starting point. The sleeker the shape, the less batteries it needs, so factor in as little as 80Wh/mi for something like the Aptera, ~200Wh/mi or so for something with a more conventional car shape (like the Tesla), etc. You can get cheaper with lead-acid, but you'll never find a lead-acid vehicle that's a good option, between battery lifespan, range, and power (and no, not even with Fireflys). Also, one needs to pay attention to the weight; they lighter they claim to make the car, they're either sacrificing safety, affordability, or more likely, both. If they claim otherwise, one needs to find that claim suspect. Lastly, one should make sure that the claimed tech jives with reality -- for example, if they claim 10000 charge cycles on li-poly, they're pulling your leg.
In this case, only the price was suspect. That's been remedied. :)
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1985 Gripen 12:53PM (5/07/2008)
Maybe it's a "four-seater" like my old Pininfarina-designed '76 FIAT Sport Spider was. Meaning... NOT! In the Spider there was a little bench seat in the back for storing things and it even had lap belts, but there was no way a human being could fit their legs in the space between the edge of the bench seat and the front seats. Like much in Italian cars I think it was mainly for looks. :-)
I think the EV market truly does need a four-seater. There are plenty of tiny little two-seater design ideas out there but other than Tesla's BlueStar and WhiteStar there are no EVs for anyone with a family out there. Hopefully Pininfarina's car turns out to be it, though I have my doubts.
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Domenick Yoney 12:58PM (5/07/2008)
@#17 1985Gripen:
Don't forget the Mitsubishi i MiEV is also a four seater. I believe our reviewer was impressed with the interior roominess. http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/03/21/new-york-2008-autobloggreen-drives-the-mitsubishi-i-miev-w-vid/
Also, the price is supposed to be in the mid-$20,000's, I believe.
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1985 Gripen 1:37PM (5/07/2008)
Thanks for the heads-up, Dominick. But why do all EVs have to look like nerd-mobiles? I mean, hopefully the Pininfarina one looks more... Italian. I doubt it though seeing their prior "city car" collection. Instead of a "bubble car" it'd be nice to see a more conventional styling or even wedge-shape. Pininfarina USED to make beautiful cars.
The GM EV-1 looks a bit dated now but looked pretty sweet at the time.
If you can't imagine a big Hollywood sex symbol pulling-up to a group of paparazzi in one, then I don't want to see it. And I'm not counting Cameron Diaz in her Prius or George Clooney in that little clown car thing he was hawking. :-)
Now, a Tesla looks sexy. Make something like that with FOUR seats (like the WhiteStar or BlueStar). These little "city cars" are fine for enviro-nerds or the Japanese market, but as a self-respecting American I want my cake AND eat it too. I want a car that's environmentally sensitive but looks sweet as well. Something that would fit-in just fine between Iron Man Tony Stark's Tesla Roadster and Audi A8. ;-P
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Frank 5:10PM (5/08/2008)
This car has a unique design by Pinin that uses internal bumpers to enhance its safety, which explains its 'nerdy' shape.
Pinin are trying to interest a big manufacturer to mass produce it, so they are kick-starting the project with an electric engined model.
It has been in development for some time and if it lives up to expectations, could create a new paradigm in small car safety.
This could be big.
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