A New EV for Less Than $8,000? In This Economy?!
Established automakers seem to have all but abandoned the notion of cheap cars, but startups are seeking to fill the void. Here in the United States, Slate Auto has introduced a modular pickup truck that it plans to sell for around $27,000—an eye-popping price for a rational vehicle format, given America's love of pickup trucks. Overseas, Citroën sells the Ami—Fiat's version is the Topolino—which technically is a quadricycle and thus super small and affordable. Seeking to fill a similar void in its home market of Japan, Hiroshima-based KG Motors has introduced the Mibot, a funky-looking single-seat electric mini car with a roughly $7,650 sticker that, surprisingly, has us looking longingly across the Pacific.
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Just like the Slate Auto Truck looks to fill a gap in our market, the KG Motors Mibot aims to do the same in Japan. According to Bloomberg, KG Motors designed the Mibot primarily for older rural buyers without great public transportation options and younger urbanites who need to drive through the country's famously narrow streets.
Designed to be easy to build and operate, the Mibot appears to be dead simple. Its symmetrical styling has a cutesy '80s aesthetic outside, while inside it sports a single seat with an OTA update-capable infotainment display to the left and a bank of switches on the right. Underneath it sports a single rear-mounted permanent magnet motor rated for 6.7 horsepower (0.79-hp continuous) and a 7.68 kWh LFP battery pack. It'll have a top speed of 37.2 mph and can cover about 62 miles at a steady 18.6 mph. It'll take about 5 hours to recharge the Mibot on a standard Japanese 100-volt outlet. Level 2 and Level 3 charging aren't supported. But at least you'll have standard heating and cooling and a cargo area large enough for 'two 18-liter kerosene tanks.'
Unlike larger Kei cars—a sentence we never thought we'd write—such as the popular $16,000 Nissan Sakura, KG Motors built the Mibot to meet Japan's 'original minicar' regulations, reasoning that so many of Japan's cars are overbuilt for how the country's drivers actually use their cars. Japanese regulations stipulate that minicars like the Mibot must be less than 98.42 inches in length, 51.2 inches in width, and 78.7 inches in height; seat a single person; and displace no more than 0.05-liter (50 cc) for internal combustion vehicles, or have an electric motor rated at no more than 0.8 hp of continuous output.
Though Mibot drivers must ride solo (though the company says pets are allowed in the hatch area) benefits for minicars include cheaper insurance, no required proof of having a parking spot, and no required inspections.
The company told Bloomberg that it has received 2,250 firm orders thus far, putting the EV on a path to outselling Toyota's own electric offerings in Japan. Stateside, Slate says its secured 100,000 reservations for its tiny cheap electric pickup.
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