Looking eerily like the Tesla Roadster that Daimler just bought into and almost performing to those same numbers, I introduce the Dodge Circuit EV. Part of Chrysler’s “building a new car company” process, I think I like it. Yes, I’m a gear head. Yes, I love the smell of high octane racing fuel, running rich through open pipes, but yes, believe it or not, I’ve got a little hippie in me. It’s that part of me that gets hot when I see someone throw a beer can out the window of their truck near the property where I ride gas guzzling ATV’s. I’ll let that one soak in for a minute.
Back to the car. I’m curious to see how much, if any, of it is sharing platform or components with the Tesla/Lotus. That might make for an interesting marriage between Chrysler, Fiat, and Lotus-via-Yank-volt-heads. Performance specs are better than most and you even see a 20hp (15kW) bump in horsepower. Acceleration is a second slower than the Tesla as well but then we look at market segments. Dodge, hopefully, isn’t going to try to market this one to the supercar crowd as diligently as Tesla motors. Range is approximately the same but the Top Gear crew found out that in hard driving situations, don’t count your 150-200 chickens. It’s closer to 60. Here are Chrysler’s stated performance specs.
Performance
- Power: 200 kW (268 hp)
- 0-60 mph: Less than 5 seconds
- ¼-mile Acceleration: Low-13 seconds
- Top speed: Greater than 120 mph
- All-electric range: 150-200 miles
There are goods and bads to any performance car. You buy the Lamborghini for the speed, the 500SL for its style, and the Atom to scare yourself. Either might not be the ideal replacement for the previous and this little hair dryer might not replace the Viper, but I’ll bet your fuel bill it will be a lot of bang for the carbon credit.
Posted in 
Tags: 
