New $10,000 electric car on a charge

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An Australian-designed electric car to be built in China plans to take on the world with a sub-$10,000 price, an iPad like dash capable of downloading apps and the promise of  never needing fuel.

Set to debut at July's Melbourne motor show, the Noddy-like EDay hatch will initially arrive next year as 100 lease vehicles before going on sale in 2012 from $9990 (plus on-road costs), undercutting petrol powered competitors by thousands and about 14 per cent of the price of the only mass produced electric car on sale today, Mitsubishi's i-MiEV.

Able to travel up to 160km between charges, it has a top speed of just 80km/h and a weight of 450kg it will be the slowest and lightest new car on the market - and the cheapest, something sure to cement its appeal in a segment where shaving a few hundred dollars can boost sales.

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The top secret project is being run by EDay Life, a small Australian company run by former Holden director of innovation and advanced engineering Laurie Sparke and car dealer Robert Lane. The pair have formed a team of 20 designers and engineers and are finalising plans to sell the cars in countries as diverse as Malaysia, Hong Kong, UK and France.

"What we're bringing ... is Australian innovative technology," says Sparke of the ambitious start-up project. "We are going to develop the new-generation of electric car."

While the prospect of a start-up taking on the established car makers may seem laughable, Sparke says the size, flexibility and clean-sheet approach brings advantages.

Just as fledgling brand Tesla prompted others to take notice - Toyota has since signed an agreement with the Californian electric car specialist - he predicts a rise of next-generation vehicle manufacturers driven from the IT industry, pointing to the Dell computers business model of lean manufacturing.

"If you look at who is driving [the technology behind] electric cars, they're not from the auto industry," says Sparke. "It's the new technology that is coming, and the global [automotive] manufacturers can't respond."
Sparke says a ground-up design allows engineering flexibility while Australian ingenuity - often leveraged by US giants Ford and General Motors with their local operations - and EDay's miniscule size gives it an advantage over established players.

"Currently an electric car is simply the smallest car in a global manufacturer's range. It's had the engine pulled out and an electric motor put in - that's a very compromised solution. An electric car needs to be different in a whole range of ways and we'll develop those in Australia.

The EDay will also get a touchscreen display to control major functions and the ability to download apps that could include everything from basic vehicle data to vehicle-to-home communication

Sparke believes the world will be accepting of an affordable electric car. Already there are various Australian fledgling operations converting conventional hatchbacks into electric vehicles, but the EDay promises to be by far the most affordable.

"Our global advantage is we'll be able to do that in a time frame of three to six months with smart solutions that aren't locked up in the way cars are always being done," he says. "And we'll have globally competitive vehicles."

However, he concedes manufacturing a budget electric car in Australia doesn't make sense, prompting the move to utilise the low manufacturing costs of China, which is fast becoming a global automotive powerhouse. With production set for a Shanghai plant with capacity of 50,000 (and potential for 100,000) EDay plans to sell the cars around the world.

"What we've been very skilled at in Australia the last 20 years is smart engineering. We [Australia] can't manufacture as cheap as China, but we can design, develop, test and certify and that's the automotive business that Australia can do, a world-competitive business."

Sparke admits the EDay is a specific vehicle that will sell largely on price and its zero emissions promise.
"We're starting with a car that's fairly mundane," he admits. "But we'll satisfy the market needs because people are eager to have an electric car and its looks are a secondary consideration.

Sparke, who was instrumental in introducing life saving safety features into the Holden Commodore is aware of the mountainous road ahead in a world where profits have slimmed and major brands been forced to change the way they do business.

"Today's challenge is to establish ourselves in the market as a credible supplier of electric vehicles," he says. "To ensure we don't compromise that credibility, we've gone to a lot of effort to monitor this fleet so we don't trip over when we go into a larger volume of production.

"We'll utilise Australian technology and suppliers to do the prototype and testing here. And when we've got a proven solution, we'll send that to our manufacturers in China and they'll produce it."

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在澳大利亚设计的电动汽车将在中国兴建计划采取与世界上的子10,000元的价格，像破折号iPad的下载应用程序和需要的燃料从未承诺的能力。

设置为首次在七月份的墨尔本车展上，诺迪般爱迪孵化初期将达到100租赁车辆明年才去发售2012年9990美元（加上在道路费），削弱了数千汽油竞争对手，约14元对价格的唯一大规模生产的百分之今天发售电动汽车，三菱的i - MiEV电动汽车。

能出差费用高达160公里之间，它有一个刚刚80公里/小时的最高速度和一个450kg的重量将是最慢的，在市场上最轻的新车 - 和最便宜的，东西一定要巩固其在一个段的上诉在剃须几百美元就可以刺激销售。

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绝密项目正在运行爱迪生活，一个小公司，由澳大利亚前Holden导演的创新和先进的工程和劳里斯帕克汽车经销商罗伯特巷运行。两人已经形成了20名设计师和工程师队伍，正在最后确定计划出售在诸如马来西亚，香港，英国和法国不同国家的汽车。

“我们现在是澳大利亚引进创新技术...”说的雄心勃勃的启动项目斯帕克。 “我们将开发新世代电动车。”

虽然一开始，就建立的汽车生产商采取的前景似乎很可笑，斯帕克说，大小，灵活性和清理结算方式带来的好处。

正如刚刚起步的品牌特斯拉促使其他国家采取公告 - 丰田自美国加州签署了一项协议，电动车专家 - 他预测，下一代车辆从IT业驱动的制造商的兴起，指着戴尔电脑精益生产经营模式。

“如果你是谁驾驶电动车[背后的技术]你看，他们是来自汽车行业的不说，”斯帕克。 “这是新技术的来临，以及全球[汽车]厂家无法回应。”
斯帕克说，地面式设计，让工程设计的灵活性，而澳大利亚的聪明才智 - 通常由美国巨头福特和通用汽车公司与当地运营杠杆 - 和爱迪的微乎其微的大小使得它比老牌的优势。

“目前电动车只不过是在一个全球性制造商的范围最小的汽车它有发动机拉出来一个电动马达把 - 。。这是一个非常妥协的解决方案的电动车需要在多种方式的一系列不同，我们会在澳大利亚的发展。

在爱迪也将获得一个触摸屏控制的主要功能和能够下载的应用程序，可以包括一切从基本的车辆数据，车辆入户沟通

斯帕克认为，世界将是一个负担得起的电动车接受。澳大利亚已经有各种新兴的业务转换成常规的掀背车电动车，但爱迪有望成为迄今为止最实惠的。

“我们的全球优势是我们能够做的，在三至六个月的未锁定在路上的汽车注册智能解决方案总是个月的时间框架正在做，”他说。 “我们将有全球竞争力的汽车。”

不过，他承认在澳大利亚制造电动车的预算没有任何意义，促使移动到利用了中国，这是迅速成为全球汽车巨头低廉的生产成本。随着生产与能力为50,000（100,000和潜力）爱迪计划出售在世界各地的汽车上海工厂。

“我们已经在澳大利亚在过去20年是非常熟练的智能工程。我们[澳大利亚]中国不能生产的便宜，但我们能够设计，开发，测试和验证，这就是汽车的业务，澳大利亚可以这样做，世界竞争力的企业。“

斯帕克承认爱迪是一个特定的车辆，将销售价格和其零排放的承诺，在很大程度上。
“我们拥有一部汽车，这是相当平凡的开始，”他承认。 “但我们会满足市场的需要，因为人们都渴望拥有一个电动车和它的外观是次要考虑。

斯帕克，谁是在引进救生进入霍顿的Commodore安全功能的工具，是山区道路前进意识到在一个精简和主要利润都被品牌被迫改变他们做生意的世界。

“今天的挑战是建立在以市场为电动汽车的可靠供应商自己，”他说。 “为了确保我们不会妥协的信誉，我们已经去了大量的精力去监控这个车队，所以我们不要过分当我们进入一个较大的生产量去旅行很多。

“我们将利用澳大利亚技术和供应商做的原型和测试在这里。当我们已经有了一个行之有效的解决方案，我们会传送到我们的制造商在中国，他们会生产它。”