Remember the "G-Wiz," the electric micro-car being sold in the UK? It was notable for a few reasons: its relatively low up-front cost (around £7,000, or about $12,000); the waiver it receives on the London "Congestion Charge" and parking fees in multiple locations; and its origins. The G-Wiz is built in India by the REVA Electric Car company.
The discussions here around the G-Wiz and other micro-cars often ended up around comfort and usability. Would most people fit in a car that small? Is a 40 mile range really sufficient for city driving? What kinds of sacrifices are made to vehicle features to keep the weight (and the cost) down?
Danny Fleet could answer these questions. Danny is a proud new owner of a G-Wiz, and has decided to "vlog" (video log) his experiences.
Danny's site has multiple short video clips, taken with a hand-held videocamera, documenting the process of buying and driving a G-Wiz. Here, for example, he learns that the car has a "pre-heat" feature (.MOV), useful on those cold London mornings; the video gives a good sense of both the exterior and interior size of the car.
Danny updates the site on a more-or-less weekly basis, and observant visitors will note that the majority of the clips come from a single day, even though they've been posted over the course of a couple of months. Danny tells me in email that he'll be switching to current footage when the archival material runs out. Given that he's been posting for awhile now, there's a good amount of existing content for new visitors to watch.
From Danny's vlogging, the G-Wiz looks to be a more-than-usable mode of personal transport, not too cramped (surprising, given its overall small size) and able to keep up handily with typical city traffic. I look forward to Danny's ongoing adventures with his car, especially the ways in which its operation and use differ from both traditional cars and public transit. It's not every day that we get a chance to watch over the shoulder of someone using an early artifact of the bright green future!
