Just spotted this article on Engadget AMP offers all-electric Saturn Sky - a company called AMP (Advanced Mechanical Products) Motor Works is converting Saturn Sky’s in to all-electric cars. The performance numbers look pretty legitimate: 150 miles on a charge, 0-60 in less than 6 seconds, and a top speed of over 90 miles per hour. It sounds like this will be limited to a run of 300 vehicles only, and the price tag might prohibit a lot of buyers: over $50,000 each.
On the AMP website, they’ve got an interesting statement: approximately $0.03 per mile on electric power. Compare this to the conventional Saturn Sky, which gets an estimated 25mpg highway. With fuel prices in the $3.75 range, that means that each mile costs about $0.15. So how long will that electric motor pay for itself? 183,333 miles [The math: $50k (electric Sky) - $28k (standard Sky) = $22,000 / $0.12 (gas savings) = 183,333]. Oh, and for what it’s worth, as long as the car has some reliability, there’s (a) no reason it couldn’t actually last that long, and (b) there’s no engine, clutch, transmission etc. that’ll wear out and require additional maintenance. Odds are the batteries won’t quite survive the 1,200 charges it’ll take to get to that magic 183k mile mark. Good luck to those that want to try!
As we continue to transition to the next energy solution - it’s exciting to see that the energy, transportation, and environmental awareness forces are combining to these sorts of products. Already we have the $100k Tesla roadster, this will be a nice conversion option, and soon (hopefully 2010) Chevy will launch it’s Volt car (40 miles on a single charge with an integrated gas motor to recharge).
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1 Harlan Cotton // Nov 12, 2008 at 6:31 pm
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