Tesla Motors may just have a got a new formidable rival from Germany. Günther Schuh, professor of production systematics at RWTH Aachen University and founder and CEO of e.Go Mobile AG together with a team of his students recently launched e.Go Life, a compact Electric Car of their own design and manufacture.

Undeterred by examples of electric cars of a similar class entering the market every year, they hope to find a definite niche for their vehicle in Germany, counting on an annual market of about 400 thousand new vehicles of this type within the next decade.

Professor Schuh cited the new EC directive L7e which deals with small vehicles of a top speed of 90 km/h and a maximum width of 1.50 m as being of particular benefit to development of their new car. In an interview to Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung he expressed his belief in still ample market potential for new electric cars, as he thinks most of the models already available are overpriced while their reach in the foreseeable future would unlikely match that of traditional petrol and diesel cars.

Stylish and environment friendly

The upcoming e.Go Life is an ultracompact M1 class three-door hatchback in eye-catching design which makes it look more expensive than it actually is.

Once in full production, the car will be priced from just 15,900 euros and is promised to make up to 104 km on a single charge around the city.

It is built on an passivated aluminium frame which is claimed to be power surge safe and would be easy to recycle. The driving force next to wheel arches are Bosch electric motors combined with lithium-ion battery cells by Sony or Panasonic stacked in a well-proven battery pack from BMZ. The Bosch Car Service network will also provide after sale services for their components.

e.Go Mobile has already secured a partnership deal with Bosch to take the enterprise farther with upcoming Life 20, Life 40 and a Life 60 models. Each of them will do away with a low-voltage drive as they will be based respectively on 230, 280 and 380 volt high-voltage drive units. Talking about the car's specs, Günther Schuh compared e.Go Life to the already available Mitsubishi I-Miev model, which he says is bigger and more expensive yet has a smaller range.

He went into more detail in regard to planned production levels, “Once the e.GO Life has established itself on the market, we will aim for series production of up to 10,000 units per year, which will be produced at the Aachen industrial estate.”

e.Go Life preceded by StreetScooter

Günther Schuh is not a novice when it comes to electric cars business. Back in 2010 he co-founded StreetScooter GmbH, now a subsidiary of Deutsche Post AG, and the startup subsequently released an ultracompact utility electric car of the same name. The StreetScooter car is used since 2014 by Deutsche Post's DHL division as a standard urban delivery vehicle.

The electric caravan was later adopted by likes of Sparkasse Aachen and Aachen city authority, and by September 2017 this model's production stood at 15 thousand units per year.

Streetscooter is currently offered to corporate entities and city authorities for 32.000 euros. One of the latest big adopters became the Deutsche See fishmonger chain which purchased a batch of 80 vehicles.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED