The SmartCar, like the 14:40 to Duluth or the second coming of Christ, never arrives. While America is waiting for the high-mileage, low-sized European success to hit our shores, it turns out a Chinese competitor is already going live. Anyone living near Saginaw, Michigan, can instead drive the all-electric Flybo-EV.
It's a lot cheaper than the $12k SmartCar will be, at $10,000, but the tradeoff is that it goes only 70 miles before needing a recharge, and its top speed is a bicycle-like 25 mph. On the other hand, you refuel it by plugging it in: the "carbon footprint" is eminently ignorable.
In other words, you already know if you want it or not. If you ever leave town (or even want to use your town's interstate highways) this probably isn't the box for you. For commuting, occupying hitherto-unusable parking slots and conveying beer to those that need it, however, it's the bomb.
Tiny Chinese electric car plugs into a wall outlet [Saginaw News via Treehugger]
