When saw this today I thought the owner was just having a joke with the green EV numberplate tag that immediately caught my eye.

But then I saw the ‘Electric’ decal on the side I thought it might still be a joke related to that. After all it was quite common for (especially French) cars in the 90s to have quirky trim levels; Wave/Surf/Excite/Elation/etc https://autoshite.com/topic/54842-ridiculous-trim-designations/). Even Fiat had a Fiat 500 ‘Diesel’, which only came in Petrol.

But then on closer look, I couldn’t see an exhaust and there was a awkwardly placed flap on the front wing, so I thought it was a passion project type EV conversion. The 106 chassis is really fun little go kart after all. And if someone had the money and the will, why not.

I figured that there might be some information about it online if that was the case. Certainly someone with that dedication would have to have a deep passion, and they might have documented or made a forum post about it.

Nah, it’s actually a factory option. PSA apparently decided to offer a battery EV all the way back in 1996. https://www.car.info/en-se/peugeot/106/106-3-door-eletric-11153757/specs

I mean, with 15hp you’ll be struggling to even worry the skin on your rice pudding.

Absolutely love seeing things like this.

    • Hazdaz@lemmy.worldEnglish
      51·
      10 months ago

      GM probably lost tens of thousands of dollars (maybe even hundreds of thousands of dollars) on every EV1 they built. It was a great first effort to see what could have been built at the time, but it was never a viable product to sell.

      GM’s Chevy Bolt EV right now is much loved as well and it has specs that far, far exceeded anything the EV1 offered.

      • AlecSadler@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        1·
        10 months ago

        …and GM discontinued the Bolt as well, despite solid sales & demand, because they were also losing money on each unit sold.

        • Hazdaz@lemmy.worldEnglish
          21·
          10 months ago

          They also said the Bolt is coming back in like 2 years as an Ultium vehicle which should make it even better still.

          GM probably lost $XX,000 on each EV1.

          They are probably losing $X,000 on early current Bolt EV.

          Their move to Ultium will probably either break ev3n or actually turn a profit in the Ultium Bolt.