|
|
|
|
Sitting in front of your computer, you click "Buy Now." Making sure the correct selection is in your online basket before you check out, you notice the order total. GoinGreen advertises the G-Wiz as the greenest vehicle available for purchase in England -- its Web site claims the G-Wiz's electric engine produces zero direct emissions, and a full, eight-hour charge costs about $1 (50 pence), the equivalent of nearly 600 miles per gallon. The vehicle is also exempt from London's hefty new congestion charges, and drivers can park for free in certain areas and make use of on-street charging points while away from the G-Wiz. So buying a fairly cheap electric car, saving more in the future on energy costs and helping the environment all sound like great fun -- but is it too good to be true? The idea of ordering an automobile online and having it delivered to you instead of going to a car dealership might be enough to set off some warning lights.
On top of that, some nasty publicity and concerns over safety have granted the G-Wiz as many detractors as admirers. How much are the automakers sacrificing in safety to make an affordable, clean car? Is it really an efficient automobile, or are GoinGreen and Reva just greenwashing the Brits? In this article, we'll take a look the G-Wiz and some of the controversy surrounding it. There are three different G-Wiz models available. Reva no longer produces the original two versions, the G-Wiz dc and the G-Wiz ac, but GoinGreen still offers used models on its Web site. Eight six-volt lead-acid batteries, located under the front seats, power the tiny quadricycle's electric motor, which is located in the back. You can charge the battery of the G-Wiz by simply plugging a charge cable into the side of the vehicle and any electric outlet, the same way you would charge your cell phone. Two and a half hours will charge the battery 80 percent, while an eight-hour charge will give the car its full charge.
Using electricity, especially from a renewable source, can save you money and help the environment -- a years worth of power would cost about $100 -- but the downside is the life of the battery. A replacement pack of eight batteries costs £1,595, or more than $3,000, and the batteries last between two and three years. This is the main reason why many people are looking toward fuel cells, which are charged quickly and don't need replacing. The range of a G-Wiz is only about 50 miles per battery charge, but as mentioned before, the quadricycle wasn't built for long drives through the English countryside. The top speed of the vehicles range between 40 and 50 miles per hour (64-80 km/h) -- very slow compared to most other cars on the road, but this emphasizes why the G-Wiz is for an urban environment. The speed limits in London, for example, are typically no faster than 40 mph (64 km/h), and data downloaded from G-Wizzes driving around the city showed that customers recorded an average speed of 10 mph (16 km/h).
So the G-Wiz can save you money -- but will it save you from a head-on collision with a delivery truck? Read the next page to find out. The lighter weight of these vehicles makes them more susceptible to damage in an accident, and automakers need to be creative if they want to build a strong, protective body. The close quarters also put drivers and passengers at an increased risk of being hurt by poorly designed crumple zones or broken windshields. The G-Wiz is very compact -- it's only about 8.5 feet long and 5 feet tall -- and since it's classified as a quadricycle, it's not required to undergo the same kinds of safety tests regular automobiles do. No official crash tests were performed on these vehicles, so consumers had no idea how someone would fare in a collision. It wasn't until the summer of 2007 that UK car magazine Top Gear performed its own series of crash tests with the G-Wiz.
|
|
