Chinese startup CHJ Automotive will be releasing its “ultra-compact” electric car in March of 2018. The model will run on changeable batteries so it will require little wait time to charge, and should run about $7,800. “In China, there are 340 million people (who) daily commute with e-scooters, but there is a strong demand for them to upgrade to something,” Shen told CNBC. “But we cannot imagine all of them driving cars, so we want to give them something else, which is an ultra-compact car.”
That diminutive size may seem odd in the U.S., but in urban areas all over the world, this kind of ultra-compact, electric vehicle is the ideal affordable solution to traffic, pollution, and parking problems.