The Green Optimistic

Mindset, a newcomer in the auto industry has announced Six50, a hybrid 2+2 seater that incorporates solar power, Li-Ion battery and a two-cylinder gasoline motor that also kicks in as a generator as required. Battery charging is further assisted by the roof-top solar panels.

The car’s name targets to the car’s weight of 650kg (1430 lbs). However, according to recent reports, the prototype has a plastic body on the outside and an aluminum frame on the inside. It isn’t that light, but it still has 650kg. According to Mindset, this helps the car to achieve fairly respectable levels of performance. The 70kw (95hp) motor should get you to speeds of up to 140km/h (75mph) and acceleration from 0-100km/h in under six seconds.

According to Marat Gunak, the company founder, most cars are currently “too big, too heavy, too expensive,” a trend that he hopes to help overturn with the Six50. Gunak, former head of design at Volkswagen, is helped in his project by a Swiss billionaire, Lorenzo Schmid.

The car is certainly interesting, competitive with most small-sized city cars, non-pollutant, and cheap to run. On the other hand, its price is spicy. It is estimated to cost about 50,000 EURO, a price not good for many of us. The car would save its price on fuel in its average lifetime. For electric cars to be a viable option, prices have to be lowered as technology gets cheaper. Then - we’ll talk green. Until then - we’ll be petrol slaves (or convert the old cars ourselves).