A top-down view of the BugE beautifully shows its '60s spacecraft aesthetic. This all-electric single-person EV is designed and built by Mark Murphy, and it's the rocketship view that greets you on the BugE's website main page, along with the line, "Earth for Earthlings." While the look is quaint/futurist, the name is a great play on "buggy", and all that's missing are the words "horse and". Right from the start you can tell the BugE is a non-traditional EV. In some ways, though, the BugE shares a lot with other EVs on the market today. It has a 30 mile range, can go 50 mph, and uses lead acid batteries. The BugE's range is in part determined by your speed: 20 miles at 40 mph, 30 miles at 30 mph, 40 miles at 20 mph. The BugE is powered by four M34 AGM Blue Top lead acid batteries, and can go 25 miles on the energy it takes to run a dishwasher for one load. You can read all the BugE's specifications here and get energy comparisons here.
From the look of the BugE from the side, I don't think this is an all-season vehicle. As you can see in pictures taken from the side, the roof is just a roof, and doesn't enclose the side or back of the seat. Oddly enough, Murphy's stated design goal is "to create a simple, low cost personal mobility vehicle that could function in a four-season environment on city streets." And he's in Oregon, so maybe the roof provides more protection from the weather than I can imagine (and I think my imagination might be limited right now thanks to the bitter, bitter cold we're having in Michigan. Then again, I still ride my bike in this weather, so what am I complaining about? Maybe my brain's frozen). Then again, he does say that sometimes it's best to pull the BugE over and wait for the weather to pass. Hmmm.The BugE will be available in kit form for about $3,000, finished for about $4,000. Murphy's previous EV was the award-winning Gizmo.
Last week, the BugE went for it's first drive (video here) and Murphy says there were no glitches. Let's see how the rest of the process goes.
[Source: Bug EV]
UPDATE: I forgot to mention that this tip came from Michael Polsinelli, who said he got the following information from Mark:
The BugE kit is a series of part components, some of which are bundled into packages for convenience.
Our Part, The Vehicle kit comprises the rolling vehicle ( chassis body and wheels) that is $3000 (est). The 48 volt system (motor, controller chargers etc) is about $1000 from EV parts and the 12 volt/MC package has the street legal lighting and harness, chain, levers cable---the Motorycle parts for about $350.
then you get the nuts and bolt hardware locally along with some auto parts (mirrors, headlights) and batteries.
The total can range from $4000 to $6000, but you decide what and when you spend money on the kit and what you want to customize.
We will be posting more detail, and will have Assembly Manuals for sale soon that cover everything.
1. I love it!
But, if licensed as a motorcycle, will the driver be required to wear a helmet in states that have mandatory motorcycle helmet laws?
Posted at 9:44AM on Feb 12th 2007 by MikeB