SAM looks like a cute little commuter car.  It comes in a variety of colors and has cool hinged doors.  It looks more like a toy car than a real honest – to goodness – drive – it – in – traffic car with its plastic exterior.  It has won numerous design awards and was created by Cree to be an ecologically sound zero emission local car.

Cree Ltd is a Swiss company that was started in 1996 and restructured in 2003 when the initial company failed.  The company is now on good financial footing and is looking forward to taking SAM from its prototype phase to final product.

SAM was designed by Bene Creative Resource and has proved to be a design award winner. 

The car itself is unusual in its makeup.  Unlike most cars, SAM has a body made of double walled air filled thermoplastic.  The chassis is aluminum which seems to be standard in small cars to lighten weight and the seats are made of polyethylene.  The passengers have a three point seatbelt system and built in roll bar incase of accidents.  The Chassis and passenger seats are 90% recyclable as is the lead battery that powers the car.

The overall dimensions are larger than many of the small three wheeled vehicles that are expected within the next three years.  The car is 5.1 feet wide, which is larger than the Clever, Lumeneo Smera and the Tango, all which are around 3 ft wide.  SAM is the longest of the these small cars at 10.4 ft.  Both Lumeneo Smera and the Tango are between 8 and 8.5 feet and the Clever is over 9 feet. 

As with the other small cars, the two passengers sit behind each other to conserve space and streamline the vehicle.  Both SAM and the Lumeneo Smera have two front wheels and one back wheel while the Clever reverses the placement of the three wheels.  The Tango, with its standard four wheels, is the only one of these cars that would not fall into the classification of a motorcycle.

Although SAM has been tested as a prototype in Switzerland for several years now, and has been approved for all roads, it has not made it to market.  The car is relatively lightweight at 545 kg or 1202 lb. but it does not go very far on a single charge.  SAM gets 50-70 km (31-40 m) per charge which is considerably less than other small cars.  Top speed is 85 km/h or 53 mph, also not as fast as other small cars.

This may definitely be a case of you get what you pay for.  Cars like the Lumeneo Smera and Tango cost between $31,000 and $46,000.  SAM is expected to cost $10,239 with a twist.  Unlike the other small cars, SAM’s batteries will be provided on a rental basis for about $101 per month.  So you actually have to add another $1200 to the cost for battery rental. 

Overall, its a nice little zero emission car that would do better as a short commute car rather than a car for any serious highway driving.  This car should do well in Switzerland and other parts of Europe where most destinations are but a short drive away.

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Entry was posted on Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 at 2:47 pm under Auto, Green Technology.

Read more entries by Susan Wilson.
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