I’ve had plenty of fun dumpster-diving through Alibaba’s online electric car catalog over the last few years, finding odd and futuristic EV gems for this weekly column. But never before have we seen something quite so elegant looking as this early automotive era replica, complete with all the bells and whistles you could possibly ask for in a Chinese knock-off. And that makes it a perfect selection for this week’s Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week!
This vintage-looking electric car rolled straight out of a 100-year-old time capsule and directly into my heart.
For a reasonable $10,000 (at least compared to most electric car prices these days), it could be rolling into your heart and driveway too!
It won’t be getting there very quickly, at least not with its top speed of 30 km/h (18 mph).
But when you have a car like this, you’re going to want to be driving by slowly to make sure everyone gets a good look. This is a car for cruising Sunday morning parades, not picking up pink slips on Saturday night.
You also might want to make those few miles you get count, since the old-fashioned lead acid battery bank takes a claimed 8 hours to recharge fully after its 80 km (50 mile) range is depleted.
Hey, the options are fast, pretty and cheap. Pick two.
Speaking of options, I’m not sure it comes with many in the traditional sense, but it does still seem to arrive nicely outfitted. This five-seater Monopoly-car-come-to-life is fully-stocked for an awesome joyride, even if its a slower joy ride.
Your $10,000 wire transfer gets you white wall tires on wire wheels, hydraulic brakes, enough head lights to permanently blind a deer, old-school trumpet horn, fenders for days, leather-ish interior that looks fairly comfortable (but also looks like it might fuse to your legs on a hot summer day), a fold up Bimini convertible top, and more! The paint option is even listed as “car painting”, so you know it’s good.
I just don’t think you can find a classier set of wheels in all of China for this price!
I often poke a bit of fun at the design choices and build quality of many of these Alibaba electric vehicles, but this one actually has me pleasantly surprised.
They seem to have outdone themselves with the attention to detail of this fun little classically-styled EV.
It may not be very fast or powerful, but it sure looks like a million bucks despite only costing ten thousand of them.
That being said, you shouldn’t expect to get this debonair runabout into your driveway for just ten g’s. When I bought my electric mini-truck from China last year, it came with several thousand dollars in extra import fees, taxes, and shipping charges.
Speaking of shipping though, it looks like the Alibaba vendor has that pretty well thought out, based on the freight images shared on the product page. They’re ready to slightly disassemble, crate up and then ship this awesome little electric roadster.
And lest you think for a minute that the vendor isn’t serious about this little electric Alibaba Roadster, they put those concerns to bed.
Just check out the video of the car in action below! Unless they filmed the video going downhill, then it looks functional to me!
What do you think? Could a classic Alibaba EV be in your future? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comment section below!
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