Video: Tango Google Talk

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This Google Talk, all about the Tango electric car, starts out with a bold statement. If Tango were cheaper, it would have a market of 150,000,000. The 24-minute talk was made in July by Rick Woodbury, the Tango creator. The description at the page says "before there was the Wrightspeed X-1, there was the Tesla prototype. Before the Tesla, there was the Tango." It starts off with the Tango driven inside and video of it driving on streets.

Rick describes one of the more appealing aspects of the car; "Lane splitting" which Rick says is legal for bikes. As he shows in slides, the car could literally drive through traffic jams like bikes right in between other cars, parked waiting for traffic to move. Safety came up a lot. There was a question from someone just in an accident with an SUV where people died.

Rick defended the safety of his car by saying it has a race car frame. His car is crash tested every weekend at the race track where those drivers almost always walk away. The audience laughed at that one. The center of gravity of the car is very low and there is even a bar right at the level of the SUV that Rick literally points out. Rick says safety concerns is an issue with small cars and he has to show Tango is not only equal but much safer than regular cars.

It's not quite a car just yet. Rick talks about selling it as a kit car. He has gone to several billionaires looking for funding but it costs $50 M for the required crash tests to get you into the car business. Rick says it feels like a law suit thing to him because those cars are not really safer. He says crumble zones is just advertising. Costs are $85,000. He is trying to sell them for $108,000. Someone asked if there would be a convertible option to laughs and Rick seemed open to the idea. All in all, a very interesting talk.

[Source: Youtube]