# GM unveils tiny $5K electric car



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Aug 9, 2017)

The new vehicle, called the Baojun E100, can travel about 100 miles on a single charge and is being touted as a perfect car for commuters.

The only catch is that the car will only be available in China








*BAOJUN E100 specs*
The car has  a wheelbase of only 5.25 feet and a height of only 5.48 feet.

Also sporting only a 12.14 turning radius, the two-seater makes other 'tiny' cars seem spacious. 

It has a single motor with 100Nm of torque and 29kW.

It can reach a top speed of 62 mph.

 The lithium-ion battery can charge fully in 7.5 hours and is also capable of capturing energy through a regenerative braking system.
















https://carnewschina.com/2017/08/08/meet-gms-cheapest-electric-car-new-baojun-e100-china/


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## Rehmanpa (Aug 9, 2017)

Why only in China though


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Aug 9, 2017)

from the provided link, which is well worth a read

_"Target customers are the young and hip living in China’s big cities. The interior is therefore dressed up with a lot of hipness"_


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## therealmeep (Aug 10, 2017)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> _"Target customers are the young and hip living in China’s big cities. The interior is therefore dressed up with a lot of hipness"_


 Is hipness even a word?
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hipness
My bad, guess it is.
It makes sense in china considering populations are so city dense and how bad their pollution is in those areas. As for why GM won't push them out most likely boils down to the fact that for a couple million dollars they can build a new EV China plant, and the cost of making them there will be somewhere around 1500-2000$, and if you factor shipping for these guys at 200$ a car consider outside of California cities and maybe NYC (which is a shipping cost all in its own) It no longer becomes profitable in the American market. GM wouldn't do that considering for their 1500$ investment if they could make it back without import tarrifs and the like, and on top of that they get viewed better in the Chinese market because they helped cut out part of the carbon footprint.


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## remixedcat (Aug 10, 2017)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> from the provided link, which is well worth a read
> 
> _"Target customers are the young and hip living in China’s big cities. The interior is therefore dressed up with a lot of hipness"_




SMH -__- hipness, umm no, we need less hipness and more muscle and power and reliability!


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## xkm1948 (Aug 10, 2017)

Maybe some will show up in Alibaba or fleebay. lol


Seriously though this would be good for Mega cities. Safety rating might be horrible though.


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## notb (Aug 10, 2017)

xkm1948 said:


> Seriously though this would be good for Mega cities. Safety rating might be horrible though.


And the build quality, and the interior materials, and the noise, and the feature robustness...

China is a very specific market. They want things cheap, but with many features. Like Chinese smartphones that have impressive specs and great value, but aren't quite there on the quality aspect.


Rehmanpa said:


> Why only in China though


Beside the things stated above (that specific models are designed for China)... well... it is the largest EV market - simple as that.
The tiny EVs for Chinese market might not be as impressive as a BMW i8 or even a Nissan Leaf, but they will be hugely important for the whole EV idea. Think about this GM as a modern take on a car for the masses: like VW Beetle, Fiat 500 or a Mini.


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## xkm1948 (Aug 10, 2017)

notb said:


> And the build quality, and the interior materials, and the noise, and the feature robustness...
> 
> *China is a very specific market. They want things cheap, but with many features. Like Chinese smartphones that have impressive specs and great value, but aren't quite there on the quality aspect.*
> 
> ...




I disagree on that part. China has one of the world fastest growing middle class population as well as one of the world largest middle class population. Things have changed quite a lot. As soon as living standards starting to improve people will demand better quality stuff. Take a look at the Huaiwei Mate 9. From the reviews it is almost in the same league as other flag ship Andriod. Hell the Nexus 6P was made by Huaiwei. Same goes for cars. 

Where there is money, there will be quality. For the next 20~30 yrs you will see quite a lot of car makers specifically catering to Chinese market, not just for cheap stuff, but actual quality cars.


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## Steevo (Aug 10, 2017)

xkm1948 said:


> I disagree on that part. China has one of the world fastest growing middle class population as well as one of the world largest middle class population. Things have changed quite a lot. As soon as living standards starting to improve people will demand better quality stuff. Take a look at the Huaiwei Mate 9. From the reviews it is almost in the same league as other flag ship Andriod. Hell the Nexus 6P was made by Huaiwei. Same goes for cars.
> 
> Where there is money, there will be quality. For the next 20~30 yrs you will see quite a lot of car makers specifically catering to Chinese market, not just for cheap stuff, but actual quality cars.




Almost


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## Vayra86 (Aug 10, 2017)

Rehmanpa said:


> Why only in China though



I bet because the average size of a person fits the design of the car... Do you see 1.80m-2.00m European behemoths in this tin can?

And why is it that 'hip' needs to equal 'bad design choices' all over? Its a bit like hipsters, they follow the same line with butt ugly fashion choices.

@xkm1948 I do know of several examples of the Chinese stating that they really don't give a rats ass about the brand or overall design, as long as it does what its supposed to do for a good price. They are probably the most sensible consumers in the world, something we can probably learn a lot from.


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## FordGT90Concept (Aug 10, 2017)

Rehmanpa said:


> Why only in China though


Because in USA, they're called "spare tires."


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## Rehmanpa (Aug 10, 2017)

FordGT90Concept said:


> Because in USA, they're called "spare tires."


Yeah I like my 7.2 liter v8 suburban, just liked the 5k price tag lol. But who wants to drive a carpet anyway


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## AsRock (Aug 10, 2017)

Rehmanpa said:


> Why only in China though



Half of it probably due to lead battery waste, and from what i have heard the battery's only last about a year.

And IF that's the case, that battery waste is high US\UK rules and regulations go to town on that shit hard.


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## DRDNA (Aug 10, 2017)

Well I think it is limited to China for a couple of reasons; One is China's hunger for electric cars that are more affordable and two is China has less safety restrictions making it easier and cheaper for GM to bring it to China to start with.
As for battery life I'm sure China will have cost effective and better battery replacements! They are the battery kings of the planet


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## XiGMAKiD (Aug 10, 2017)

If I have $5K to spend on a vehicle I would buy this, although it's not a car and not that hip it's good enough for me


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## jboydgolfer (Aug 10, 2017)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> regenerative braking system.


 
They used my idea!!!


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## rtwjunkie (Aug 10, 2017)

Until some increased range is added, electric is out of contention for me. 47 mile commute each way.  Any kind of traffic jam guarantees I wouldn't make it home.


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Aug 10, 2017)

I would need a trailer to put the kids in.


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## jboydgolfer (Aug 10, 2017)

These kinds of inventions are for the ones with money to burn on ideas , since obviously this car is intended as a daily (to and from work ) car and nothing else really. This is what you could term as a "in addition to your regular vehicles" car.  Since there's no room for kids, dogs, camping gear etc.

 Obviously there are exceptions, but it's definitely more of a single person's car or what I mentioned above


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## rtwjunkie (Aug 10, 2017)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> I would need a trailer to put the kids in.


It's just a commuter car.


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## RejZoR (Aug 12, 2017)

XiGMAKiD said:


> If I have $5K to spend on a vehicle I would buy this, although it's not a car and not that hip it's good enough for me



Dacia Sandero. James May approved!


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## notb (Aug 13, 2017)

jboydgolfer said:


> These kinds of inventions are for the ones with money to burn on ideas , since obviously this car is intended as a daily (to and from work ) car and nothing else really. This is what you could term as a "in addition to your regular vehicles" car.  Since there's no room for kids, dogs, camping gear etc.


How funny is this sentence! "Daily (to and from work) car and nothing else".

"Daily (to and from work)" is how cars are used most of the time. So this car clearly targets a specific, but very popular scenario.
It looks a lot like a Smart and these are hugely popular in Europe. I know Americans don't get this, but this really is the future of automotive industry. Maybe not where you are (or a bit later), but USA has always been an automotive outsider anyway.



rtwjunkie said:


> Until some increased range is added, electric is out of contention for me. 47 mile commute each way.  Any kind of traffic jam guarantees I wouldn't make it home.


For most people on Earth you're distance to work would be less acceptable than this car. Especially if you have to drive. 47 miles is like what... 75km? How long does it take? 2 hours? 
Don't you have a mass transit option? Train, bus, whatever?

Anyway, even the low-end electric cars (like Nissan Leaf) already offer a range of 100 miles, so the technology you need is already here.
Generally speaking, electric cars are already fully usable for daily commuting of most people, that is when your car is parked for ~22 hours a day.
It's not enough for long-distance traveling, but we'll get there in few years.


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