It takes 15,000 EVs to Tango in Auckland, apparently

Tall and skinny, it can take a while to get used to the looks of the Tango electric car. It doesn't look like anything else on the road, but there are also very few of them to catch your eye. The residents of Auckland, New Zealand might soon get plenty of chances to recognize the tiny two-seater, though, since the group Project Microcar wants the city to buy 15,000 (!) of the little EVs from Commuter Cars and then lease them to commuters at $55 a week.

According to Stuff, that ambitious dream would cost a new public private partnership around $435 million ($363 million US) to put in place. In return, the Tango may be produced in Auckland, creating local jobs. Another potential benefit is a decrease in traffic congestion and the overall number of big vehicles on the roads (two Tangos can fit in a lane, side-by-side), which could save the city money it now uses to build more roads. And commuters themselves could save money since the Tango doesn't cost much to run. The proponents told Stuff that the program's set-up costs could be paid back in ten years.

There is no mention of this proposal on the Commuter Cars website, but the site does emphasize just how big a difference using a lot of tiny Tangos can have on sluggish urban roads, so the Project Microcar proposal is in sync with the car's raison d'être.