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SMERA LUMENEO Electric Car?

Jun 10, 2008 By Matt

5 Comments

The Lumeneo Smera is the smallest passenger car I have seen to date. While I like that it is environmentally friendly I don’t know if I’d feel comfortable sharing an environment with a Hummer if I were driving one of these, yet that may not be an issue for long. While this little guy is still a concept it is planned to go into production in 2009 and should bare a price tag of between 20-30,000 Euros…

As far as tech specs, this baby runs on two brushless electric motors powered by a Li Ion battery pack which produces no emission and limited noise. It is capable of going 80 mph and has a range of 90 miles on a single charge, and it takes several hours to recharge, which is par for the electric vehicle course. What is particularly cool is the way the Smera turns like a motorcycle by leaning into turns. Before hearing this little tid bit of information I had a picture of it tipping over every time it encountered a gentle curve in the road.

The Smera is relatively safe compared to it’s motorcycle cousins boasting some saftey features to keep you in one piece. First of all it doesn’t go 220mph like a crotch rocket, plus it is blessed with a rigid aluminum frame, safety cage, 4 disc breaks and seatbelts. I have heard that it is surprisingly roomier than you’d think, although their logo looks like a little guy in a straight jacket seemingly communicating that you’ll feel trapped inside.

Final thoughts… Well designed, cool concept, but a little scary small.

[via: Inhabitat, photos via: Autobloggreen]

Category: Cars+Tranportation

5 Comments, Comment or Ping

Barry Bernsten

A fundamental change in our driving habits is now required.

The Automobile Industry is going to be in the same position as the Airline Industry in the next few months. Unless we get away from gas combustion vehicles, including Hybrids, the automobile industry (as we know it) will die.We need to make drastic moves. America needs to move to ELECTRIC. The vehicles are not as fast, not always as fun to drive, but the move will save Americans money (Billions) and help bring change to our automotive companies. Let’s “Be Green”!!!!!!!!!!!! BG Automotive Group Ltd. has a car that will travel 80-100 miles per charge for $15,995. Finally a car that most Americans can afford. Did you know that 80% of all drivers, drive less than 50 miles per day? This new car will cost an equivalent of $0.20-0.25 cents/gallon (depending on electricity rates in your area). Why send $700 Billion per year to OPEC (now buying up U.S. companies) when we can use this money for our schools, health care, social security for all Americans, etc, etc, etc. We can make the difference if WE change.

Jul 16th, 2008
kent beuchert

Barry Bernsten has made some remarkable claims : “Unless we get away from gasoline powered vehicles, we will die?”
he does say WHy this will kill us,. perhaps because, as we all know, nothing of the sort will happen. Once again, the simple minded hysterics are failing to see the future : like the anti-nuclear blockers who have all by themselves caused global warming; the ethanol proponents who not only promised $1 gallon fuel, but good financial times for the farmers and
energy indepdendence. Now we have the electric car proponents who foolishly believe that if a aprtial electric like the plug-in hybrid is good, then the all-electric battery-only must be wonderful. They are complete fools if they believe such utter nonsense. Battery prices make battery-onlies (BEVs) too expensive and battery technology is too deficient - they can’t come close to providing a viable alternative to gas powered cars - they can’t go where you want to go, nor even when you want to go there and force use of gas power when a plug-in hybrid not only could get there, but do so using quite a bit of electric drive and much less gasoline doing so. And when you own a plug-in, you don’t have to buy, insure and maintain a second car. And find a place to park it.
BEVs make NO sense and never will until a practical battery comes along that can be quickly recharged, Agssi’s idiotic Project Better Place not withstanding.

Jul 17th, 2008
Car Rental Spain

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Jul 18th, 2008
Ali

To Kent Beuchert:
Firstly, you need to read the post you’re rebutting. quote:
“Unless we get away from gas combustion vehicles, including Hybrids, the automobile industry (as we know it) will die.”
Not ‘we will die’ the industry will die. Last time I checked, I was not the automotive industry.
Battery prices do not really compare to gas prices - either you pay in one lump sum or you pay in small increments over time. Either way, you’re paying. Battery technology has greatly improved and will only continue; meanwhile gas is gas, and no matter how you slice it, the stuff is getting scarce. I’d rather be working with a renewable resource than a finite one, and electricity has boundless opportunities for production. Hybrids are a great first step, but the end goal needs to be a release of our overall dependence on oil, and that means alternatives to gasoline. It should have been in the works decades ago, and shame on us for not being more proactive in the past on this issue.
If you look at the Tesla sportscar, that is a prime example of where the technology (and hopefully the market) is heading - 220 mile range, top speed of 125 and 0-60 in 4 seconds! I don’t know where you are, but in the Portland area in Oregon we have recharge stations all over the place, as well as in every campground in the state that offers RV space. Range is certainly not a problem, with a little planning. You’d do the same with gas stations, considering there are some vehicles on the road that get only 12 miles to the gallon (criminal!) that people actually take on long-distance trips. Don’t give up on batteries yet, they’re still our best stepping stone to the next travel technology, and without development we’ll never move forward. Development takes money, and so if we buy into the BEV craze now it will fund the next level and get us that closer to being gasoline-free…

Aug 12th, 2008
Delaney55

Most of these are so small! What about people with families? Who can afford to spend that much money on something that is one person sized? Even if you get one of the 2 person sized little cars there just isn’t any room for anything. I’m all for finding an alternative to gasoline for cars but these itty bitty cars aren’t the answer for everyone.

Jon and Kate plus 8 sure would be in trouble if that was all we had a choice to drive.

Aug 15th, 2008