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SIM-WIL: The Japanese Electric Ride That Rivals Gasoline Sports Cars

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Do you remember SIM-LEI? You probably don’t, as its name doesn’t say much (like Nissan Leaf does, for instance), but that’s the first car SIM-Drive Corp, a Japanese company built last year. Now they’re announcing the brand-new SIM-WIL, a more advanced piece of electronics (read: electric car) that will outperform the first and many sports cars.

The SIM-WIL will have a bigger battery than its first relative. The 35.1 kWh Panasonic battery will be able to take you 351 kilometers (218 miles) on average and will boldly accelerate up to 62.1 mph in 5.4 seconds, which is good for a city car.

This performance will surely be paid in full, because the battery and the power controller have to withstand high loads, but the car won’t weigh more than 1,580 kilos and will have an energy efficiency of only 99.7 W/km, which is quite good.

Tesla, for example, reported its Roadster to have 110 W/km and converted EVs usually only score about 200 W/km (depending on the configuration).

The maximum speed is way above what the law allows in most of the countries (except Germany), and that is 180 km/h (112.5 mph). You’ll surely get a ticket and your licence suspended if you’re caught driving like that in a car.

SIM-WIL will feature an improved version of their in-wheel electric motors. Earlier types used to vibrate at low speeds. All in all, the project sounds good, but without knowing this gadget’s price is hard to estimate whether it’ll be worth buying it over a Nissan Leaf, for example.

Still, my personal opinion is that the best way to get a cheap electric car these days is to convert one yourself, and by the end of the conversion you’ll have gathered both the know-how and the thirst for building another one. You only need a garage, at least $4,000 bucks and lots of patience.

Oh, and one last thing… it will be available starting 2013.

[via techOn!]

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