The three-wheeled sports car is a curious creature. It seems to exist less for getting from point A to B, but more for the express interest of entertainment — a grown-up toy for polishing and the occasional joyride.
That hasn’t stopped a variety of companies from churning them out, a group that now includes Ampere Motor USA with their electric convertible trike.
Known as Ampere 1, the mini sports car differentiates itself beyond the electric power by boasting an accessible price point of $9,900. For comparison, Vanderhall Motor Works’ electric trike goes for $35K.
The reason behind the low cost? From admittedly indirect assessment, it seems partly due to the size. Sure, it’s slick, but it also looks straight out of a cartoon where a convertible was chopped in half but kept on truckin’. And depending on where you live, it may need to be registered as a motorcycle.
Inside the teardrop body is a race car-derived tubular chassis, double wishbone suspension, carbon-Kevlar belt drivetrain and a battery that can be recharged in three and a half hours via a standard household outlet. For performance, it touts a range of 100 miles (which can be upgraded to 150), a 75 MPH top speed and acceleration of 0-60 MPH in eight seconds.
The Ampere 1 is slated for production this summer, but you can get a glimpse of it in action below. But with no live sound and only 43 seconds of footage, you might want to wait for a test drive before you snatch one up.
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