The TANGO - the World's Fastest Urban Car!

Self-driving solving traffic congestion?

noreply@blogger.com (Tango Electric Cars) — Wed, 02 Dec 2015 05:02:00 +0000

I've been hearing a lot about self-driving cars creating this utopia of no more car ownership, end of congestion, etc. I take issue with that for purely common sense reasons.
Consider that people work and live and shop in locations scattered all over. This clearly explains why, out of 140-million workers in the US, 107-million are single-occupant drivers and only 7-million use all forms of public transit combined.

All of the self driving developments are great, and the possibility of less car ownership is wonderful too, however, if you think about it, it doesn't mean less traffic.

The problem stems from the fact that people need to get to work. Their homes are scattered all over the place, and so are their work locations. Rarely, even if husband and wife work in the same location, do they want to travel together, as it limits their freedom to come and go as they want, and to run personal errands that the spouse may not want to go on.

Suppose that half of these people started using self-driving cars that are owned by Uber or other car share companies. True, the number of cars needed would decrease drastically, and that would solve a lot of parking problems, however, the flow of people would not change by much, except that the parking lanes might be used to increase road lanes, and therefore capacity, and the cars may be able to drive with less braking distance, as the reaction time would be reduced. There would be virtually no change in traffic as the same number of people need to go to the same number of places. The duty cycle of each car is greatly increased as they don't sit around in parking garages, but rather go on to give the next ride. So unless they are electric, the pollution is not even diminished.

The simple solution is to have single-occupant drivers/riders in cars that are less than 40” wide. That gives the same clearance in half of a freeway lane that trucks have in a full lane. The narrow cars would stagger naturally, and this gives added safety as they are short and much more maneuverable. They are also fully electric, as it's almost impossible to make the center of gravity low enough in a gasoline vehicle to make it stable.

I believe that the only way to combat traffic congestion and to get most commuters driving electric, is to give them something that makes commuting easier, faster, safer, and more fun.
The Tango ticks all the boxes.
• Dimensions of a motorcycle
• 0-60 3.2 seconds.
• FIA certified racecar roll cage
• Same rollover threshold as a 911 Porsche
• Fastest speed recorded by Consumer Reports through the “Emergency Lane Change Maneuver (Moose Test)
• Holds two large adults comfortably.
• Self-driving or not, solves traffic congestion.

Best Lanesplitting Article Yet!

noreply@blogger.com (Tango Electric Cars) — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 00:07:00 +0000

Click here for Gizmag article on Lanesplitting

IBM People for Smarter Cities

noreply@blogger.com (Tango Electric Cars) — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 19:15:00 +0000

Click here for short video
This video shows my vision of the future that I had 32 years ago, and started working on full-time over 16 years ago.
Simply observing a pack of motorcycles on the freeway proves that narrow lanes are not required to increase lane capacity with narrow cars, however, what a great incentive it would be some time in the future, as demonstrated in the video.
http://smartercities.tumblr.com/post/95286536737/people-for-smarter-cities-new-solution-to-traffic#notes

Filtering now Legal in New South Wales, Australia

noreply@blogger.com (Tango Electric Cars) — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 16:40:00 +0000

Filtering was just made legal in New South Wales, Australia.
Click Here for Video Interview on Filtering.
Previously, filtering, or lanesplitting has been illegal in all of Australia. This is a rare case where the formerly illegal practice has been made legal for safety and congestion-relief concerns.
NSW has defined filtering as legal as long as done at under 30 kph. They define lanesplitting as illegal, as that is the term that they have defined for splitting lanes at over 30 kph. In the United States, however, the terms are virtually synonymous, and to do it legally, in California, for example, must simply be done in a safe manner.

Tango Story on New Zealand's most popular News Program

noreply@blogger.com (Tango Electric Cars) — Mon, 07 Apr 2014 03:19:00 +0000

Click Here for 5-minute News Story

New HBO series "Silicon Valley" premiers tonight with Tango

noreply@blogger.com (Tango Electric Cars) — Mon, 07 Apr 2014 03:08:00 +0000

Click here for preview

Great article on lanesplitting also shows the Tango!

noreply@blogger.com (Tango Electric Cars) — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 19:45:00 +0000

Click Here: Motorcycle Myths Debunked: Part 5
This a great article on lanesplitting that points out the benefits and dangers, most of which are mitigated by doing it in a Tango.

Why the Tango can solve problems that no amount of money invested in public transit can solve!

noreply@blogger.com (Tango Electric Cars) — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 19:26:00 +0000

It is so obvious that single-occupant drivers using side-by-side seating, thus taking up an entire lane on the freeway, is the precise source of traffic congestion, that any 3rd-grade kid can understand it immediately after looking at this graph. Why then are we wasting time and investing $billions in solutions that don't work, when the answer is so simple?

Maybe it's hard to imagine half of all commuters buying narrow vehicles to get to work.

Maybe it's not so hard to imagine that rather than spend taxpayer's $billions for building rail and widening freeways, that for a small fraction of the cost, narrow, freeway-capable vehicles like the Tango could be purchased and leased to commuters to give them the same mobility that they are accustomed to, with better safety, maintaining their private space to store items that they like to keep near them, and all the benefits of a car, yet able to travel at freeway speeds at over double the lane density of cars, instead of sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

The Tango is the only product in existence that can solve the problem that is so well demonstrated in the above graph.

New Video of Various Tango Capabilities

noreply@blogger.com (Tango Electric Cars) — Sat, 14 Dec 2013 01:48:00 +0000

Click Here for YouTube Video

New video including:

Burnout at dragstrip
Front wheels lifting off the ground proving 9,000+ ft-lbs of torque at the axle, so with 3:1 gearing from motors to axles, proves an astounding 3,000 ft-lbs of torque, 1,500 ft-lbs from each motor. The physics is rather simple. The Tango weighs 3,326 lbs, and the driver another 130 lbs, with a front-rear weight distribution of 43/57, it takes over 9,000 ft-lbs on an imaginary monster torque wrench attached to the rear axle to get the front wheels off the ground. This was only accomplished because the track was so sticky, as it was prepped with VHT; otherwise the tires just spin, as in the previous burnout. The 3:1 gears, the only gearing it has, redline the motors at 172 mph. We've never gone that fast, but we're fairly certain the top speed is over 150 mph, as it has an official time of 106 mph in the standing 1/4-mile in 12.1 seconds. 0-60 mph was 3.2 seconds.
Drag race against a noisy Honda
Drag race against a quiet Tesla Roadster
Tango plowing through over 2 feet of snow in Spokane, Washington
Dirt road driving and fording stream near Mt. Shasta California
Cornering around Frank Langella in Robot and Frank trailer and near beginning of movie—A great movie by the way.
Cornering during Progressive Automotive X-Prize competition endurance test.
The Tango recorded the fastest speed through the Consumer Reports Emergency Lane Change Maneuver (Moose Test), as announced at the X-Prize summit conference by David Champion, Director of Consumer Reports Automotive Testing.
Cornering while burning rubber in Commuter Cars' parking lot
Lanesplitting on Bayshore Freeway on San Francisco Peninsula—legal according to the unanimous responses of 67 California Highway Patrol and various other police officers from San Francisco to Beverly Hills. In fact, when two Tangos were displayed at the San Francisco Auto Show a few years ago, we were showing a lanesplitting video. As people asked if it was legal, we asked them to ask at the California Highway Patrol booth across the aisle, where they were told that it was okay. The reason is simple. The Tango is the same width as most police motorbikes. It is 5-inches narrower than a Honda Gold Wing motorcycle, and can maneuver more quickly than a motorcycle, that in order to react to an emergency, has to first countersteer before leaning and turning. Lanesplitting is described as legal for motorcycles on the California Highway Patrol web site. It is not legal in any other state to our knowledge, but is legal in most of the rest of the world. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Motorcycle Safety Division has a web page on lanesplitting (see Downloads on our web page Click Here for NHTSA PDF ) where they explain why lanesplitting is probably safer for bikes than to be in the lane where they can't easily bee seen and can get crushed between cars. They also believe that it may help traffic congestion. We consider it a foot-in-the-door toward reaching the ultimate goal of having single-occupant drivers only taking up half of a lane, instead of a full one, thus allowing 4,400 vehicles per hour per lane, instead of only 2,000 which is the maximum throughput for any other car. (See Downloads Booz-Allen-Hamilton / UC Berkeley studies funded by CalTrans.
Lanesplitting in George Clooney's Tango on the Pacific Coast Highway near Malibu, California. Video by Chris Payne, director of Who Killed the Electric Car.
Traffic jam with comments by Hattie Kauffman, on The Early Show
Lanesplitting as viewed from the inside of the Tango. Click for 4-minute Lanesplitting Video if you want to see why a Tango driver is having infinitely more fun than everyone else in a traffic jam.
Washington Governor Gregoire explains on KHQ News, why she thinks Commuter Cars could become the country's largest car manufacturer
Lane sharing with two Tangos in a single lane at 65 mph comfortably driving side by side on the freeway. Normally Tangos and motorcycles stagger in order to give additional safety just like cars in full-sized lanes, however, occupancy is still more than double. Recently in heavy traffic, after some lanesplitting, I caught up to a group of 4 staggered motorcycles in the HOV lane. The 5 of us didn't take up as much room on the freeway as two cars.
Hence, my belief that the Tango is the fastest, safest, most convenient, and most fun car to drive, of any car in history, for 90% of all urban trips!

Tangos on cover of publication distributed to European Government decision makers

noreply@blogger.com (Tango Electric Cars) — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 15:18:00 +0000

Two Tangos sharing a lane at 65 mph is the cover art for the Government publication going out to over 200,000 decision makers all over Europe. Please see linked 4-page article:

This article demonstrates how for less than 1/10th the cost and 1/10th the time, transportation infrastructure problems similar to the Boston Big Dig could be solved by simply giving away commuter cars like the Tango. Furthermore, as Auckland, NZ city council member Toa Greening points out, it could be done at no long-term cost at all, but would rather be an investment that is paid back by renting these cars to commuters who would benefit by getting to work many times faster, safer, more conveniently (considering parking) and having more fun doing it.

Auckland New Zealand may be the first city to implement the most cost-effective solution to commuter transportation problems and the fiscal problems associated with them.

noreply@blogger.com (Tango Electric Cars) — Mon, 06 May 2013 16:12:00 +0000

Auckland New Zealand may be the first city to realize that it can be 10 times less expensive and 10 times faster to purchase and lease Tangos to commuters rather than spend tens of $billions of taxpayer funds on more freeways and other transportation infrastructure. Please read the discussion document written by Toa Greening, Auckland City Council member.
http://www.projectmicrocar.co.nz/
or
Click Here to Download 15-page PDF
http://www.commutercars.com/downloads/Project_Microcar_v1.0.pdf
It's kind of like this Tibetan story of two guys walking along on rocky ground, before shoes had been invented. One said" Wouldn't it be nice if we could cover the world with leather." The other said, "Why don't we just cover our feet."

Lanesplitting

noreply@blogger.com (Tango Electric Cars) — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 16:47:00 +0000

I heard yesterday that lanesplitting was in the news in California. I tried to find it online, but only found that the CHP was defining what is considered safe lanesplitting. Click here for: California Highway Patrol Web Page on Lanesplitting
I, of course, feel that it's only safe if done in a Tango, which is narrower than many motorcycles, and can react more quickly, as proved in the Consumer Reports emergency lane change test during the Automotive X-prize competition.
Imagine the reduction in traffic and parking congestion if single-occupant commuters started using the right tool for the job! The Tango fits in half a lane with more clearance than a truck has in a full lane.

2013-01-16 KXLY TV Tango News Story

noreply@blogger.com (Tango Electric Cars) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 21:55:00 +0000

KXLY TV aired a new story on the Tango yesterday. It's probably one of the best at conveying the true purpose of the Tango. Click here to see video.

Tango in Opening Scene of Robot & Frank Trailer

noreply@blogger.com (Tango Electric Cars) — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 16:33:00 +0000

What a pleasant surprise to see the Tango in the opening scene of this trailer for the upcoming movie Robot & Frank. It looks like a great movie. I can't wait to see it. Actors Frank Langella, Susan Sarandon, Liv Tyler, and James Marsden star in the film.
Click Here to see trailer.
Robot and Frank debuts in August.

In September Looper is due to come out, starring Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon Levitt, and Emily Blunt. It has 4 Tangos in it.

noreply@blogger.com (Tango Electric Cars) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 22:52:00 +0000

First Tango to be Sold Outside of the U.S.

I was recently invited to speak at the TransTrans Summit Conference in New York. Unfortunately, I was too busy here getting a Tango ready to ship to Exeter in the UK, that I didn't have time to make it. I'm thus taking this opportunity to tell the story that I would have told in the speech.

I once read a Tibetan story about two fellows walking along before the time shoes were invented. The sharp rocks were hurting their feet. One said to the other: "Would't it be nice if we could cover the world with leather?" The other replied: "Why don't we just cover our feet."

Our traffic situation is a lot like this. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, there are about 140-million workers in the US. Of them, 106-million are single occupant drivers averaging about 20 miles round trip to work, in a car with 4 or more empty seats, that is literally 4 times too big for the job to be done.

Rather than think about building more roads and parking lots, why not consider a more sensible approach, by offering cars that are appropriate for this job—ones that can fit comfortably in 1/2 of a lane.

Most families have more than one car. I'm not advocating for anyone to give up the privilege of having a family car that can be used for all kinds of trips, that actually require the capacity or range. However, since this car rarely gets used to capacity as compared to the daily commute, why does a family need more than one of these large cars?

I liken it to a carpenter that has two or more sledge hammers, but no claw hammer, yet uses the sledge hammers for driving finish nails 90% of the time.

Motorcycles and bicycles are a solution to congestion of course, however, it is quite evident that people in general would rather sit in traffic in a comfortable and reasonably safe and protected environment rather than be subjected to the dangers and climate exposure on a bike. They also like to have a locker that travels with them with whatever things that think they may need close to them. They don't have that with a bike, motorcycle, or public transit. The Bureau of Transportation Statistics shows that only 0.8% of all workers in the U.S. use bicycles and motorcycles combined, for getting to and from work. This chart is available on our web page/downloads at http://www.commutercars.com/, or http://www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/2010/html/table_01_38.html

The Tango, a car that is the size of a motorcycle, seats two 6'6" adults comfortably in tandem, with 4 times more side impact protection than a Volvo, beats a Dodge Viper in the 1/4-mile, is 5" narrower than a Gold Wing motorcycle, the same rollover threshold as a 911 Porsche, certified racecar roll cage, and short enough to park perpendicularly to the curb (4 in a typical parallel parking space), already exists. It is a $200k car at present, made of carbon fiber, stainless steel, and a chrome-moly roll cage, just to show off its potential. It is only this expensive because there are only 12 of them in the world and hand building cars is a huge undertaking for such a unique vehicle where most parts have to be custom made rather than borrowed from existing cars. If built in the same volume as other cars, there is no reason that it wouldn't compete favorably in price. It is all electric, and the battery ballasts it, which helped make it the fastest car recorded by Consumer Reports through the emergency lane change maneuver (moose test) at the Automotive X-Prize competition.

Now for the big picture. I understand the "Big Dig" Boston Tunnel is costing over $20-billion. If I recall correctly it transports 200,000 cars per day. I was told by the Director of CalTrans that the San Francisco Bay bridge accommodates about 250,000 cars per day, that's 125,000 cars going both directions. So, that sounds about right. Imagine another way of solving the problem. Building 100,000 cars may seem extremely capital intensive, but not compared to building freeways, parking, and tunnels to accommodate all of the empty seats that people currently carry with them. The Nissan Leaf electric car received $2-billion in government loans from DOE. It's my understanding that a typical new model is a $1.5 to $2-billion investment. In order for that kind of investment to pay off, roughly 100,000 car per year sales is required to amortize the expense. At present, Nissan has sold just over 10,000 Leafs, so if they didn't sell any more of them, that would be $200k per car. They really did bet the farm on that.

I'm certain that the Tango could be built and sold profitably for $10,000 each if the $2-billion for design and tooling were invested. This would not include the battery, which should be leased and paid for monthly the same as one's gasoline bill. Various options would be available so that one only pays for a battery capacity in accordance with one's needs.

Let's compare with the Boston Tunnel. $20-billion for the Tunnel plus decades of work and added traffic congestion due to the construction, vs $3-billion for 100,000 Tangos that could be given away for free, saving taxpayers $17-billion dollars and could be produced in 2 years. Not only would it completely solve the problem that justified the Big Dig, but it would also save over 75,000 parking spots and solve the congestion problems all over the city, not to mention that a city with 100,000 electric cars taking on most of the commuter transportation load would have the world's greatest "green" credential. Don't worry about the electric load. It would be exactly as if 100,000 families each turned on one 8" square ceramic heater for 2 hours and 40 minutes at some time during the night. The grid handles many times that on a cold day.

If we can't convince governments or auto manufacturers of this simple logic, maybe we have to wait until the grade school kids come of age to make the change. They all "get it."

Meanwhile, we can offer 200% to 300% faster commute times in California, Europe, and Asia where lane splitting (driving a motorbike or Tango between lanes of stopped or slow-moving traffic) is legal.

Even a $50M investment would allow us to sell 200 kilowatt (150hp) Tangos for $44k at 2,500 per year, or with $150M, 15,000 per year could be sold profitably for $29k each.

If you want to solve a problem rather than keep spending money on congestion, please spread the word. There must be someone out there with enough common sense to make this happen.

Disruptive technology is a funny thing though. Steve Jobs was asked once by a reporter what kind of market survey he did for the Macintosh. Steve scoffed and said: "What kind of market analysis do you think Alexander Graham Bell did before inventing the telephone?" Interestingly, when the first telephone was presented to the U.S. President Rutherford Hayes, he said "What a wonderful invention, but who would ever want to use it?"

Tango Chinese News Story: Now with Translation

noreply@blogger.com (Tango Electric Cars) — Mon, 09 May 2011 18:52:00 +0000

Click here for video

No need to sit in this frustrating mess: If you have a Tango you can enjoy the freedom of driving past all of these cars. That's infinitely more fun than sitting in traffic.

Commuter Cars’ “Tango”—The Urban Driving Electric Supercar

Filmed and edited by Enming Liu for Voice of America’s “Cultural Odyssey”

For a YouTube version that skips the host's introduction, please click this link:

YouTube Tango News Story

MP4 Version for iPhone / iPad can be downloaded from our web site using this link:

MP4 Version for iPhone and iPad

The complete news story as aired in China can be seen searched for on this link:

Voice of America The Urban Driving Electric Supercar

Host Peggy Chang's intro is short, and then the action starts.

Host Peggy Chang (in studio):

In many large Chinese and American cities, traffic congestion is an increasingly big problem. Whether you’re on Beijing’s 3^rd-ring Road or Washington DC’s I-495, traffic grinds to a standstill every day at rush hour. Every year, Americans waste $115 billion worth of work time and gas being caught up in these traffic jams. Faced with this problem, one man came up with the brilliant idea of making drastically narrower cars. If two cars could fit in a lane where only one could previously fit, roadways would effectively have their capacity doubled. And if everyone drove cars like that, wouldn’t the world’s traffic problems be instantly solved? In this next piece, Cultural Odyssey reporter Enming Liu introduces a vehicle that aims to do just that—the charming Tango electric car.

(the start of Enming’s piece)

According to Texas A&M University, every year Americans waste $115 billion worth of gas and work time being caught up on congested roadways. And it’s not only an American problem. The problems of wasted resources and environmental harm, caused by congested traffic, plague virtually every major city in the world.

So, how can this problem be solved? Here to offer a solution, is the Tango, an electric car, just one seat wide.

Rick Woodbury, President, Commuter Cars:

“It’s the only car in the world that fits in half a lane on the freeway with more clearance than a truck has in a full lane. With this one, you can move over, you can get between the lanes of cars because it’s narrower than a lot of motorcycles.”

His name is Rick Woodbury, and he is the inventor of the 39-inch wide Tango electric car. He’s also the CEO of Commuter Cars Corporation.

Rick Woodbury:

“Commuter Cars is a company that plans to build lots of commuter cars. This is the purpose of the car.”

There was nothing random about the birth of the Tango and Commuter Cars. In fact, it has a direct connection with Mr. Woodbury’s personal experience commuting to and from work everyday.

Rick Woodbury:

The reason this car exists, is that I was stuck in traffic in 1982 going to work everyday. While stuck in traffic I looked around, and noticed that there was only one person in every car around me. I thought, ‘This is an incredible waste of real estate, and a waste of people’s time.’”

The cute, nimble Tango seems like a motorcycle with an added roof on the top. At first glance, very few people would think it looks like a speed car.

Rick Woodbury:

“Right now it’s a super car. It’s unequivocally the fastest car through traffic. But it’s one of the fastest cars you can buy—even on a drag strip. It’s extremely fast and powerful.”

Under the Tango’s floorboard are two motors that combined produce 600,000 Watts of power, the equivalent of 805 horsepower. Even more amazing, the motors produce 2,500 foot-pounds of torque. That’s the same amount of torque produced by five Dodge Vipers. Thomas Greither, the owner of a health foods business, is a Tango driver.

Thomas Greither, President, Flora, Inc.:

“I have owned a Bentley before, a Maserati—I have owned a lot of nice cars, but I have never owned a car which got so much attention. It’s the most fun car I have ever owned to drive. The acceleration from 0 to 60 is less than 4 seconds. It can beat most Ferraris and Porsches.”

Rick Woodbury:

“We probably can get down to an 11-second quarter-mile, which is a half second slower than a Bugatti Veyron—which costs $1.2 million. We’re talking not just a little bit fast; we’re talking extremely fast.”

The Tango is powered by 1,000 lithium batteries located under the seat. On a full charge, the Tango can travel 120 miles. And the car’s vast power capacity has its origin in China.

Rick Woodbury:

“This is a module of Headway cells. These are made in China.”

The 1,000 lithium batteries under the seat also perform another function—that is, keeping the Tango’s center of gravity very low to the ground, allowing the car to keep it’s balance around turns at high speeds. As a matter of fact, this is the question most often asked by those who see a Tango on the street.

Thomas Greither:

“I think the number one question is that they think the car will fall over around corners. What people don’t realize is there is a whole pack of batteries underneath it, and all the weight is on the bottom. So, it’s quite stable around corners. That’s the number one question people ask.”

City parking is an even bigger advantage of the Tango. Because of it’s short and narrow body, the Tango can fit into the tiny spots between normal parking spaces. Tom Boyd is an Oncologist and Tango owner.

Tom Boyd, Oncologist, Northstar Lodge Cancer Center:

“I can park in the spaces that aren’t really spaces—you know, that diagonal area that isn’t really big enough to fit a car. This is only a fourth of the size of most vehicles. So, you can squeeze into a very tiny cubicle and do very well, sort of essentially create your own parking spaces.”

Into just how small of a space can the Tango fit? As an April fools joke one year, an employee of Internet search giant Google parked his Tango in the exceedingly small office of the company’s Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt, showing in just how small a space the Tango can fit. No wonder Rick Woodbury has such wonderful things to say about his invention:

Rick Woodbury:

“It’s the only car in the world that can solve these huge traffic problems. I heard about and saw photographs of traffic jams in China, and I don’t know how many of those cars had one person in them. I bet if those people with just one or two people [in the car] were in Tangos, you wouldn’t have that traffic jam. That 11-day gridlock wouldn’t have been there.”

The very first Tango owner is none other than Hollywood actor George Clooney. In fact, all current Tango owners are not your average Joe. Because only 11 Tangos have ever been produced, the low production drives the price tag up to $150,000—a price that most people couldn’t afford.

Rick Woodbury:

“Please understand this $150,000 price is only because of its low production. As soon as we get into production, we want to sell these cars for under $10,000.”

Currently, Rick Woodbury is still searching for enough investment to bring the Tango into large-scale production. At the same time, he and Commuter Cars are committed to constantly improving the Tango, increasing its range to 240 miles on one full charge, for example. An electric super car boasting these many amazing qualities—if the price really does get under $10,000, who wouldn’t want to buy one?

Voice of America Cultural Odyssey reporter Enming Liu reporting from Spokane, Washington.

Biggest Barrier to Electric Vehicles?

noreply@blogger.com (Tango Electric Cars) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 14:54:00 +0000

I saw a post on an EV battery forum, asking: "What is the biggest barrier to EVs."

My opinion may not be popular, however, I believe that it's founded on excellent logic.

I believe the biggest barrier for EVs is usefulness. When EVs are better than gasoline cars in enough ways to benefit the person paying the bill for them, they will outsell them. Some scenarios are that lithium battery cost mile drops by 75%, or gasoline cost quadruples, then the range and recharge time will be overshadowed by pure cost incentive despite the inconvenience. People choose a mode of transportation primarily based on:

1. Speed from point to point.

2. Convenience to schedule, and

3. Convenience to carry goods and to keep them secure when not on one's person.

4. If using a car or motorcycle, then ease of parking becomes an issue

A major investment in a car, except in extremely dense cities like New York, meets these objectives best. However, when making such a large investment, it goes without saying that one would want to be able to use it, at least occasionally, for long-distance trips. This one item is a huge deterrent for pure electric vehicles. Companies that are promoting pure electric cars and plug-in hybrids seem to ignore, that as far as we can tell, battery replacement and electricity combined cost at least as much as gasoline on a cost per mile basis.

However, there is an immediate solution. It's the Tango. As 90% of all trips fall within its range, the Tango is the only car in the world, to my knowledge, that does a better job for commuters and errand goers than any other car in history, despite the fact that it's pure electric. It is the only car that can lanesplit and park like a motorcycle, giving 200% to 300% speed advantage in heavy traffic in California, Europe, and Asia, where lanesplitting is legal. When there are enough of them, along with motorcycles, they can increase lane capacity from 2,000 vehicles per hour to 4,400 vehicles per hour, according to a UC Berkeley/Booz-Allen-Hamilton study. Using a full sized car for commuting is like using a sledge hammer to drive finish nails. It's the wrong tool for the job, yet, 106-million single-occupant drivers out of the 140-million workers in the U.S. do just that. By the same token, a long haul electric semi truck would be like using a claw hammer to drive railroad spikes—also the wrong tool for the job.

Just as transistors could not possibly have replaced vacuum tubes in TVs in the 50s, batteries cannot replace gasoline and diesel now. However, just as transistors did the job perfectly in transistor radios and hearing aids in the 50s, so batteries do the job perfectly in a Tango today. People didn't buy transistor radios in the 50s because they had transistors in them. They bought them because of the job that the radio did. Today, the mass market will not buy cars because they are electric, but rather for the job that they can do. The Tango is faster, safer, more convenient, and more fun to drive in any urban situation, where most driver's have the most frustration. If a manufacturer really wants to sell a lot of EVs over the next 30 years, they should be talking to me, as I have world-wide patents on the only practical mass-market-appealing EV in existence—in my humble opinion of course. :^)

Renderings of Complete Roll Cage and Door Bars

noreply@blogger.com (Tango Electric Cars) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 13:53:00 +0000

Vadim, creator of the Tango commercial, has just graphically assembled the whole roll cage with door bars. Because the door bars were integrated into the doors, they could not be photographed with the cage. This rendering shows the integrated door bar system, as it is over 4 times greater than any production car that we know of.

Tango Commercial: Animation Video

noreply@blogger.com (Tango Electric Cars) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 04:51:00 +0000

Vadim Stupin, a recent graduate of film school in Germany, graciously created a Tango commercial pro bono.

I hope that you enjoy it!
Click Here to View Commercial

Now available in MP4 so that you can see it on iPhones or iPads.
Click Here to Download MP4 from our Website

AOL Translogic News Story on Tango—Awesome Footage

noreply@blogger.com (Tango Electric Cars) — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 04:28:00 +0000

AOL Translogic's Bradley Hasemeyer experiencing the series/parallel shift for the first time. He explains it in the video.

AOL Translogic has just published their news story on the Tango. It is most informative.

Proof of Tango's Motor Torque

noreply@blogger.com (Tango Electric Cars) — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 23:43:00 +0000

For many years I've been saying that the Tango has over 1,000 ft lbs of motor torque—500 ft-lbs each. In a recent drag strip event, we proved that the Tango has over 2,500 ft-lbs of torque at the motors—over 5 times the torque of a Viper V-10 engine at peak output. This is proven by the fact that the Tango weighs 3,500 lbs with the driver, distributed 43%-57% front to rear, and a 75" wheelbase. Therefore, it requires 9,500 ft-lbs of torque at the rear wheels to lift the front wheels off of the ground, as demonstrated in the video below. The drive ratio is 3.86:1 from motors to rear axles. It took a very sticky track to accomplish this with street tires. It was prepped with a goo that was stickier than the floor in a 7-11 next to the Slurpee machine—hard to keep your shoes on.

YouTube Video of Tango Launching

Tango Painted by Romero Britto

noreply@blogger.com (Tango Electric Cars) — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 00:23:00 +0000

The first red prototype has been painted by Romero Britto. It is currently in the San Diego Auto Museum

Two Tangos at Los Angeles Auto Show

noreply@blogger.com (Tango Electric Cars) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 04:18:00 +0000

Tangos are on display at the Los Angeles Convention Center through Thanksgiving weekend.

New Tango Brochure

noreply@blogger.com (Tango Electric Cars) — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 01:01:00 +0000

Please click here to download the new 6-page Tango brochure

We're printing 50,000 brochures for the Los Angeles Auto Show where Tango(s) will be on display from November 18 through 28th. I'm taking the orange Tango to Miami next week by trailer from Spokane for the screenings of "What is the Electric Car." I will then transport it to the LA Show.

If you're on the fence about purchasing a Tango, please be sure to read the last page, which sheds light on many possible considerations.

Tango resale tab added to web page

noreply@blogger.com (Tango Electric Cars) — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 00:41:00 +0000

The Tango just listed under re-sales has only 289 miles and is available immediately. It is fully-assembled and registered in California. This is perfect for anyone who does not want to wait to have a custom Tango built, which is between 4 to 6 months wait. It will be delivered with LiFePO4 battery and a freeway range of 120 miles.