2050 Motors unveiled Ibis electric sedan

The new Ibis all-carbon fiber electric sedan finally arrived in the United States. The brand-new vehicle has carbon fiber body and high-strength extruded aluminum frame -- the Ibis is at least 800 lbs lighter than Tesla Model S --,134 kW motor and 0-to-60 acceleration time of only 8,5 seconds.

2/9/16 4:00 am chumakdenis 1

Some of you might remember Aoxin Ibis concept car -- a copycat version of Tesla Model S.

The vehicle has been introduced with great fanfare in China, but most of the journalists didn't like her, refering to Ibis as the 'ugliest Tesla clone ever'.

Well, whatever the vehicle might look like, the thing is that the vehicle isn't as bad as it looks.

Inside the car there is a quite powerful motor and it has kind of cool fiber body and high-strength extruded aluminum frame, so let's not be that prejudiced and give an unprepossessing clone of Tesla Model S a chance.

Remember, beauty is only skin deep.

2016 Aoxin Ibis

The car you see here is called the Aoxin Ibis, and it appeared at the recent New Energy Auto Show in Shanghai with Tesla-baiting upscale pretensions.

It has carbon fiber body, high-strength extruded aluminum frame and a quite powerful motor (72Kw).

It’s top-notch Chinese EV and everything says about it.

Let’s talk about each in components detail.

Body

The Ibis body is built totally out of carbon fiber which is five times stronger than steel and one third the weight.

To make it more emphatic, let’s compare it with Tesla’s body – it is fabricated from punched out aluminum sheeting and it is at least 800 lbs heavier than Ibis body.

And yeah…it means the vehicle will produce better mileage, especially in urban driving conditions.

High strength extruded aluminum frame 

The next important point is that the Ibis carbon fiber body sits on a high strength extruded aluminum frame not on a sheet metal punched out aluminum frame as the Tesla.

It’s very cool of 2050 Motors.

Thumbs up for that.

Juice

Most of the juice comes from 72 kW motor.

It’s enough to go 285 miles (500 kilometers) on a single charge and accelerate up to 94 miles (150 km/h) per hour.

Comparing to Tesla Model S

At first sight, Tesla Model S and Aoxin Ibis don’t seem to have a lot in common.

However, they have a lot of common stuff.

In a way of example, the Aoxin badge features a similar "T" shape to Tesla's with some differences, including a wreath surround that appears copied from Mercedes-Benz.

Another design similarity with the Model S is aluminum bodywork, and there are some carbon-fiber pieces as well.

So, despite being slightly longer than the Tesla, the Ibis actually weighs about 600 pounds less.

However, everything is not about weight.

It’s much more about HP and in here Ibis drags behind: despite featuring three electric motors--one in the rear axle and an additional one for each rear hub—vehicle manages to muster only 181 horsepower and 250 pound-feet of torque.

Verdict

The vehicle itself is kind of cool and I adore a lot of things about her:  carbon fiber body, high-strength extruded aluminum frame, cool exterior and interior gizmos and other cool stuff alike.

Nonetheless, Aoxin Ibis can’t compete with Tesla Model S on equal terms, at least in the US.

Vehicle costs almost as much as Tesla Model S and there aren’t at least half of the features that Tesla has.

Most importantly, acceleration time isn’t good enough for luxurious EVs – 8,5 seconds is ok for ordinary EVS, but not ok for $60k+ vehicles.

Its vehicle’s Achilles’ heel and it needs to be fixed.

Otherwise, Tesla will eat Ibis for breakfast and that’s the end of 2050 Motors.

 

Remark: the company promotes a $59,500 figure after deducting the federal tax credit, and then later separately notes a California based rebate of $5,500…so we assume they don’t have a real good handle on how EVs are actually sold in the US.

Specifications