Designed from the ground up as an electric vehicle, the Defiant Xtreme EV3 Roadster will debut next month at the Knoxville, Tennessee, Earth Day Festival.
Developed by Shockwave Motors, the Defiant Xtreme EV3 Roadster is an electric vehicle designed to take advantage of the efficiencies of an electric vehicle powertrain with a sport design we’re used to seeing only in racing events. In fact, the Defiant Xtreme EV3 Roadster kind of reminds me of the Nissan Deltawing or Nissan BladeGlider. The Deltawing, of course, is well-known on the racing circuits for its unique aerodynamic design, and the BladeGlider as a unique electric vehicle.
The benefit, of course, of the Defiant Xtreme EV3 Roadster electric vehicle, is that it won’t cost you millions of dollars. Like the Deltawing, it promises to be remarkably efficient. Like the BladeGlider, and unlike the Deltawing, it will carry three passengers, but it hasn’t been designed as a supercar. Rather, the largest-capacity LiFePO4 (lithium-iron phosphate) battery pack has been rated at 200 miles, if you average 45 mph.
The car itself is unique, and may not be appealing to everyone. Still, we need to make some adjustments if we plan on getting into an electric vehicle. The car’s starting price is just $24,950 with a 50 mi SLA (sealed lead acid) battery, but adding range and other options can push the price to about $40,000. My configuration, if I had the money or need, ran to $38,545, including 200 miles of range, provided by a LiFePO4 battery pack, LII home charging system, LIII charging capability, sunroof, and air conditioning. Interestingly, this is about the same as you’d pay for a fully-specced Chevy Volt or a little more than a fully-specced Nissan Leaf. You’d get better than four times the range of the Volt, however, and better than twice that of the Leaf.
Image © Shockwave Motors
As it goes with any limited production specialized vehicle, the manufacturer loses the economy of scale while trying to make a profit. Also, if the vehicle pictured is any representation, it looks to be little more than a fiberglass bodied kit car. For the money, there are a lot of alternatives as mentioned in the article, most more refined but again not as unique. The best bet is probably an EV retrofit kit coupled to the body of your choice, which would bring the cost down to a reasonable level, and many companies do this already. Whatever happened to VIA motors?