Electric Minivan Dubbed "Luxgen" To Make Its Appearance

I suppose the world needs alternate energy minivans and thus we are about to witness the production of the Luxgen, which is short for Luxury and Genius. The claims for this particular vehicle are somewhat hard to swallow but if they can approximate these numbers, then the minivan will be special indeed. We feel the biggest hurdle for the Luxgen will be its $140,000 MSRP, which will cause customers to swallow hard when considering a minivan purchase.

Aside from lithium-ion batteries, cell phones and electric cars don’t have all that much in common. Or do they? A new luxury electric minivan from Luxgen, a Taiwanese company, was unveiled at the Dubai International Auto Show (irony?). It utilizes the same technology found in HTC smart phones to combine luxury, electric power, and advanced technology all in the same package.

Luxgen’s name is the uninspired coupling of “Luxury” and “Genius”, and they claim their EV+ is the “world’s first electric 7-passenger MPV”. Alright, so it does make sense to tailor an electric car towards an upper echelon consumer base because of the traditionally high costs. Luxgen is claiming that the AC Propulsion motor delivers 265 N-m of torque (about 195 ft-lbs of torque) and can reach 0-62 mph in just 8.6 seconds… faster than a Prius. Luxgen is also claiming a 90 mph top speed, which isn’t much slower than the Tesla.

Errr, ok, I suppose it could be possible for an electric luxury minivan laden down with batteries and tech features like Night Vision, GPS, and television screens to be faster than the Prius. But not with only 195 ft-lbs of torque. With a planned cost of $140,000, Luxgen says the EV+ should get 350 km per charge… but only if the minivan is driven at 40 kilometer per hour… or just under 25 mph. Heh, ya, right. I drive that fast down my driveway.

The EV+ was displayed along with three other Luxgen vehicles, none of them electric. The Taiwanese company plans to have the EV+ out on market sometime this year, but don’t be surprised if it gets delayed, or quietly canned altogether. If it does make it past the concept phase, it will start selling in the Middle East, and may eventually find its way to America.

Source: Gas2.0