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Tuesday April 7, 2009
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Remember the Optimal Joule, the electric vehicle produced by a South African start-up automaker that debuted at the Paris Auto Show last October? AutoblogGreen is reporting that the six-seater minivan concept is on target for a debut in its home country next year, thanks to a new round of funding that Optimal secured to manufacture the car.
The report said that the funding will come from both public and private sources, and that the company is targeting a 50,000 volume production line for the 2012 model year.
Optimal plans to sell the Joule with one of two powertrains: either an asynchronous permanent magnet motor powering the front wheels, or
a pair of synchronous permanent magnet in-wheel motors for either rear or all wheel drive.
The Joule will last about from 120 to 250 miles on a charge, though the range could vary based on the driveline configuration--and at any rate, customers will lease the lithium-ion batteries for about $160 per month, according to the report. There's still no word on whether we'd see one of these stateside.
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