eVehicle Technology
Squad Mobility who develop new urban mobility concepts have released a design update for its Squad Solar City Car. The two most noticeable differences are the two new door options, with either half doors for splash reduction or full doors with windows offering full weather protection being available. The full door version is now also offered with air-conditioning, a unique feature for a micro car of this size and price point, however doors can easily be detached. The mini electric car starting price is just over £5k ex. VAT (€ 5750) and is now available to pre-order.
Robert Hoevers: “After our media release last November we have received tremendous interest from all over the world. We have received a lot of feedback as well from consumers, MaaS operators, distributors, suppliers and investors.”
Doors
There have specifically been a lot of questions about doors. Although we like the idea of the new archetype of a Light Electric Vehicle without doors, a lot of customers reached out to us with their wish for the increased weather protection and safety aspects (theft, unauthorized use etc.) of doors. Of course we listened carefully to the valuable feedback and today we are proud to unveil our updated Squad Solar City Car range with a choice of doors and even air–conditioning for various use cases. We offer both half doors for increased safety and protection from splash water as well as full doors for full weather protection, comfort and the possibility to completely lock the car for theft prevention. Full doors also give protection from nearby exhaust emissions. We also noticed an increased demand for full doors because of the current corona crisis. Both types of doors can be quickly removed for those nice summer days.
Chris Klok, Chief of Design, worked on the design update: “There are quite a few minor detail updates and some larger ones. The solar roof generates 20% more power, by using more powerful cells and increasing the solar cell area. The doors add to the feeling of safety and protection, however, we were also keen on keeping the social interaction and the feeling of freedom the open version offers. Therefore we have opted for removable doors which is a challenging but satisfying solution.”
Air-conditioning
We have added the option for air-conditioning for the warmest circumstances. Although this implies adding an extra battery for the increased energy demand. But as warmer circumstances also means more sunshine, a large part of the cooling can be powered by the increased solar energy charged, we figured this is quite an elegant solution nevertheless.
Extra pre-order options
Next to the design update, we have also added two new pre-order options. We have added a € 50 pre-order option next to the Signature versions of € 5000 and the Pioneer versions of € 500. The Signature versions are now the first 100 Squads complete with two batteries providing the maximum range of 100 km. The Pioneer versions are production numbers 101 to 1000 and the regular production pre-orders of € 50 are the production numbers over and above 1000. All pre-orders are fully refundable except for a 3% administration and payment provider fee.
Outside the EU
Although the Squad will initially be homologated for the EU market, worldwide pre-orders from outside the EU are accepted now. Because the production and delivery dates for countries outside the EU are not yet determined, the pre-order fee outside the EU is set at €5.
Distribution outside the EU will be prioritized based on the number of pre-orders from those markets.
