Futuristic 3- wheel Sparrow makes you ‘ feel like Iron Man’
VANCOUVER I have driven the future, and it is now. Well, maybe.
In a world of two- buck- a- litre gas, this single- seat, all- electric enclosed three- wheeler is a gamechanger. Throw in a provincial/ federal EV rebate of $ 5,000 or so to offset the $ 19,888 price tag and the ambitious plan to build thousands of them each year in B. C. seems even more grounded in reality. Talk with ElectraMeccanica president and chief executive, and it’s all but inevitable.
“This is the Volkswagen Beetle for the 21st century,” Jerry Kroll declared in the Westin- Bayshore parking lot during my pre- test drive briefing. “After 30 minutes of driving it, you feel like you are wearing Robert Downey Jr.’ s Iron Man suit. You’re wearing the car. It’s the way driving should be.”
ElectraMeccanica plans to build these vehicles in B. C., for sale in Canada and around the world. Kroll is an entrepreneur who has spent his life around cars — racing them, building them — and for the past five years, he has been developing electric drive systems for race cars at the NASA Research Park in Mountain View, Calif.
He’s the brains behind ElectraMeccanica, while the brawn comes from Henry Reisner, the Vancouver- based owner and operator of custom car builder Intermeccanica. As chief operating officer, Reisner will oversee production of the single- seater at a facility Kroll estimates will employ between 500 and 1,000 “clean- tech workers.”
So what exactly is it? If it looks somewhat familiar, that’s because this pre- production model is based on the Sparrow, first built by Corbin Industries in 1999. Kroll worked with Corbin back then, “trying to bring it into Canada.”
Earlier this year, EM bought the rights and existing assets of Myers Motors, which took over Sparrow production in 2004.
But the ElectraMeccanica Sparrow prototype I tested is different from the original in a few ways. First, lead- acid batteries have been replaced by a state- oftheart lithium- ion drive system. Thanks to that upgrade, gross weight has been slashed from 1,600 pounds to just 1,275, which means more nimble performance and, more importantly, an increased full- charge range from about 40 kilometres to more than 100.
Kroll says the plan is to have 15 or so of these pre- production models built for sale by the end of the year before switching over to the EMV17 model, which uses the same lithium- ion drivetrain as in the fibreglass prototype but is housed in a made- in- Canada carbon- fibre body, penned by car designer Rod Trenne, who worked on the Chevrolet Corvette C5 and designed the Mosler MT900 supercar.
The use of carbon fibre, according to Kroll, will bring the gross weight down to less than 800 lbs., meaning a longer range and even better performance. The plan is to produce and sell 120 EMV17s in 2016 and more than 1,200 in 2017. The first EMV17, Kroll said, will be road ready by the end of this year.
Last month ElectraMeccanica received registration approval from the B. C. Ministry of Transportation ( under category 97 for three- wheeled cars).
So, apart from Iron Man wannabes, who, exactly, is the target market?
“Eighty- three per cent of all commuters in North America drive, by themselves, 60 kilometres or less each day,” Kroll said. “In Canada, that’s 14 million people. If we sell these cars to just one- tenth of one per cent of those, it’s $ 280 million a year.”
And that’s not including another segment he sees as a natural for the car: Courier fleets. In addition to the obvious operational savings, Kroll said the vehicle’s small footprint allows it to be parked in spots suited for a motorcycle or even a bicycle. Other possible buyers include municipalities and catering companies.
Entering the Sparrow from the right- side door — the only door, apart from the rear cargo hatch — and settling into the wide and comfortable seat, the driver’s view is not unlike that of a regular car: Steering wheel ( a sporty Momo, no less), two pedals, turn signal stalk, speedometer, climate controls, windshield- wiper switch, air vents, smartphone holder.
The handbrake is the first tip off that something’s amiss. Turn your head to the right and you realize you’re not in Kansas anymore. Things return to normalcy as a key gets this vehicle going, albeit one installed on the left side of the steering wheel. A full turn and it emits a beep that fills the tiny cabin. When that stops, it’s time to turn the switch to put the Sparrow in drive.
Like any EV worth its battery pack, the only sound on acceleration is a whirr from the electric motor. However, unlike any other EV, the sensation of accelerating is akin to taxiing a fighter jet down a runway. With no body mass to the right of you, it takes some getting used to, but once mastered it is truly liberating. Motorcyclists know the feeling of lots of room to roam in a single lane, and the Sparrow captures that, but with none of the wind and engine noise of a gas- powered bike.
Despite the lack of power steering or brakes, I never felt I was labouring over either duty, though Kroll did share this useful pre- drive advice: “Test out the brakes first thing to get a feeling for them.”
Like in Beetles of old, the pressure you must exert to slow down or stop is more than most pampered 21st century drivers are used to, but not onerous enough to bring on thigh cramps. The only times I felt uneasy where when distracted pedestrians, cyclists and drivers in hulking subcompacts took slack- jawed interest and veered into my path, attempting either to stop me outright or snap a quick photo.
The one time I did stop, for an impromptu photo shoot in Stanley Park, I was besieged by the curious and peppered with questions. Even the horse- drawn carriage guy reined in his steeds to allow on- board tourists to gawk and capture the moment.
Back inside my safe cocoon I sped away, feeling like a futuristic traveller caught in the horse and buggy age. Marty McFly can keep his DeLorean.
Like a dream that ended almost before it began, my 30- minute test drive was over, and I found myself standing outside the Sparrow looking at it and feeling the same disconnect I felt when I first drove a Smart fortwo at 120 km/ h. I was driving that thing that fast? It sure didn’t feel like it looks.
“After driving it, when you get back into a normal vehicle, it feels like you are driving a motorhome,” Kroll told me before my test drive. As I drove home in my compact, I had to admit he was right.
As to if he’s right on ElectraMeccanica being Vancouver’s first high- volume car manufacturer, only time — and gas prices — will tell.