The Electric “Balloon” Car: They’re Safe & Cheap, But Would You Drive One?

One major concern with electric cars in the minds of many consumers is that they are so light, which means that a collision with a standard bulkier vehicle is not going to end well on the part of the electric car owner. However, in order to work efficiently and be better for the environment, electric cars need to fairly light. Up until now, we’ve been assuming that there had to be some sort of trade-off, but now we can have it both ways—an electric car that is both light as air and exceptionally safe. In fact, the entire car is one continuous airbag. You can’t get much safer than that! Its creators say the car “will float in an emergency such as a flood or tsunami” and that you could “drive it off a cliff without serious injury.”

The new Californian start-up company, XP Vehicles, has an upcoming electric car known as the Whisper™. XP has taken similar airbag technology that was developed to safely land recent NASA missions on Mars and turned it into an inflatable polymer car frame. XP Vehicles states that the Whisper™ has a range of 2,500 miles using a “hot-swap XPack Multi-Core™ battery/fuel cell powerplant.”

The innovative carmakers plan to sell the Whisper, which can be configured in a variety of different colors, decals, stereo systems, iPod mounts, and alarms, over the Internet directly for less than $5,000 a car. The car will arrive in a couple of cardboard boxes and “can be assembled by two people of average education level” in “less than two hours.”

Sure, people might laugh at you driving around in a mobile balloon, BUT if you can go 2,500 miles without having to charge it up (and with an initial price tag of under $5,000) you can laugh too—all the way to the bank with all the money you save! Who knows, your aesthetic sacrifice might give you a sense a pride, like a puffy badge of honor, that you’re willing to help save the planet at the risk of looking silly.

Inflatable or not, electric cars are clearly a growing trend. Gas prices have contributed toward massively steering consumer sentiments away from big, gas thirsty vehicles. Big cars used to be a sort of twisted status symbol that you could afford to throw away money on gas, but with the now outrageous gas spikes and growing environmental concerns, hummer drivers (that aren’t in a rocky war zone) now seem woefully stupid and delusional, while small cars are becoming increasingly chic. Even the big companies are starting to take notice. Reuters reported recently that GM is trying to unload its Hummer brand. The Prius Hybrid, on the other hand, has been a commercial success. Now the market appears ready for an all-electric vehicle.

Reuters reports that GM's board has recently allocated production funding to the Chevy Volt, an all-electric vehicle that GM expects to have in showrooms by 2010, which will be assembled in Detroit. The New York Times reported recently that Nissan plans to sell electric cars in the US by 2010 as well. Nissan’s chief executive, Carlos Ghosn, says that high gas prices and environmental concerns have motivated the company to accelerate the development of battery-powered vehicles. Nissan is upping the ante by becoming the first auto manufacturer to mass-market all-electric vehicles worldwide.

Mr. Ghosn added to the predominant sentiment in renewable technology investment these days: “What we are seeing is that the shifts coming from the markets are more powerful than what regulators are doing. We are not interested in some ‘Stars Wars’ prototype,” he said, “but in really bringing a mass market product that everybody can buy. It’s really a new chapter in the life of this industry.”

Posted by Rebecca Sato

Comments

In Michigan years ago a lady was driving a Hyundai over the Mackinac Bridge. The car was light enough that wind swept the car up and over the bridge. Would such a light car stand up to the weather?

Posted by: Darrin | June 05, 2008 at 06:25 AM

That's a good point Darrin. They'd have to make sure it wasn't so light that the car could be blown away, but I'm sure there will take that into account. There has to be a way to design it in such a way that it minimizes that risk. Overall though, I think it's a great idea and I hope it gets somewhere.

Posted by: B.B. | June 05, 2008 at 12:06 PM

I think this is a fantastic idea. If the wind is bad enough to blow over a car a bridge, it might be safer to stay inside instead of drive anyways. but for the most part, I think they are designed to sort of tunnel the wind, it kind of cascades around the design, instead of hitting one side, it's directed, you know?
that's what it looks like. we'll see!

Posted by: Micah | June 06, 2008 at 08:53 PM