Why this electric ‘car’ the size of two motorcycles should be on your list
Let’s just face it, America. We’ve got a weight problem. No, not that weight problem. It’s the size of the cars. The best-selling vehicles in the US are all of the biggest, heaviest, and most oversized models available. But it doesn’t have to be that way. A new crop of tiny electric cars is changing the game and offering options we’ve never had before. Err, actually, I probably shouldn’t call them “cars”.
I’m talking about Low Speed Vehicles (LSVs), the official term for what many people call Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEVs).
Earlier this week, Eli Electric announced that it was opening pre-orders for its Eli ZERO, an electric vehicle so small that you can fit four of them in the same parking spot used by a large SUV. In fact, the little EV is roughly the size of just two motorcycles parked side by side.
That should make sense because just in the same way motorcycles are designed with the bare necessities to carry a single passenger, LSVs are generally the same idea, but for two passengers (or occasionally four passengers).
And at just US $11,900, the Eli Zero is finally an LSV that is affordable compared to most of the offerings we’ve seen in the past. Sure, I love me a nice GEM. But those suckers start at $15k, and the price jumps to $25k when you add doors and a lithium-ion battery upgrade. To put it lightly, Eli is making waves with a new electric microcar that is priced at half of the previous main competition.
So how can these motorcycle-sized electric vehicles be priced at less than half the cost of even the cheapest electric cars available in the US? Because they’re not really cars, essentially.
As LSVs, these are classified as motor vehicles, but not in the same way as passenger cars. They have their own not inconsequential set of regulations but don’t have to meet higher standards such as highway crash testing ratings, etc.
They’re also not nearly as powerful, since they are federally limited to just 25 mph (40 km/h) top speeds. As long as they meet the regulations and can be certified as street legal, they’re allowed on nearly any road in the country that has a posted speed limit of 35 mph (56 km/h) or less. That’s most of the roads in any city, which is why they’re so popular as urban vehicles.
And don’t think that since they aren’t cars, that you won’t get a car-like experience. The Eli Zero, for example, has a pile of features that should be familiar to any car owner, such as heat and air-conditioning, reverse camera, parking radar sensors, keyless unlocking/starting, power steering, and more. You even have the option of installing a Sony infotainment center with CarPlay or Android Auto integration.
The point is, LSVs may not be very fast, but for places where you’re not going to be driving very fast anyway (i.e. cities), the top speed just doesn’t matter that much. In Manhattan, for example, the average speed of traffic is just 7 mph (11 km/h). What’s more important is the size, the price, and the convenience.
When it comes to size, you just can’t beat LSVs. They’re small enough to park just about anywhere, and they don’t take up much space in your garage (if you’re lucky enough to have one of those ‘garage’ things in a city).
The pricing also makes them incredibly affordable as a replacement for a real car. Not only are they cheaper to buy outright, but they’re also much cheaper to own. They likely have reduced insurance costs (depending on your state), and the electricy cost to charge them pennies… literally. A full charge on many of these models might be slightly over one dollar, though most people don’t start from a completely empty battery. That means that a recharge likely costs you roughly the amount of loose change you’ve got dangling around in the bottom of your pocket. The cost of one single solitary gallon of gasoline would put around 200 to 300 miles of range into that Eli Zero, for example.
And lastly, let’s talk convenience. Owning an electric car is already fairly convenient because you don’t have many of the same maintenance concerns as combustion engine cars. But an LSV is even easier since you don’t even have the complicated systems that keep Teslas spending so much time at the service center. You get a few nice features like keyless ignition, but these aren’t the same rolling supercomputers as modern cars, meaning you’re giving up your self-driving and other high-tech features in exchange for reduced complexity.
The average city dweller is already on the fence about whether or not to even own a car, mostly due to the inconvenience of car ownership in the city. But if you can get the convenience of having your own weather-sealed ride yet don’t have to figure out how to park a boat downtown, then suddenly the equation becomes a lot more intriguiging.
And for suburbanites who are trying to decide on whether or not to get that second car, perhaps an LSV is the right choice. I generally recommend an electric bike as a replacement second car, but I understand that many people simply don’t want the two-wheeled lifestyle. If you can get something the size of two bikes, but that has glass and metal around you, (not to mention DOT seatbelts and anti-lock brakes), then perhaps an LSV is the right compromise.
There are simply so many advantages here, and I’ve barely scratched the surface. For now, these are still largely seen as quirky little vehicles, and I get it. They are quirky. But that’s also part of the fun charm. Most Cybertruck owners won’t admit it, but they bought that monstrosity because it was quirky and unique, just in a different way. Quirky vehicles can be fun because they mix things up, solving the same transportation problem in a new and fun way.
As the pool of available LSVs in the US grows, so too will the demand. The numbers are already growing, albeit slowly. I’ve touted the Eli ZERO several times in this article, largely because it’s fresh in the news (I’m not connected to the company, and I have no financial incentive – I just like the thing). But there are other models out there. The previously mentioned GEMs have offered solid LSV solutions in the US for decades. Wink Motors is a fairly new startup with interesting offerings, and has a new model coming to the US soon. Several golf cart makers have LSV versions, though they’re open-air vehicles that don’t have many of the same advantages of enclosed microcars. But the point is, there are more options than ever before.
Now, if we could just get the US government to get it together and include LSVs in the federal tax incentives for electric vehicles, that’d be something! These are electric vehicles, just smaller ones. And if the US truly cares about all the benefits of electric vehicles, then helping people turn these things into daily drivers with four-figure price tags will go a long way.
So here it is, the end of my rant. There are a lot of cars on the road, but few can match the utility per pound that LSVs offer.
If you live in a city and have been looking for an affordable electric car, here it is, in all its glory. And there it goes, at no faster than a federally-limited 25 mph.
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![Hackers turn Nissan LEAF into full-scale RC car, record drivers' conversations [video]](https://i0.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/05/nissan-leaf-hacked.png?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1)
A team of white hat European hackers using their brains, keyboards, and a couple of bits and baubles from eBay managed to take control of a 2020 Nissan LEAF and violate just about every privacy and safety regulation in the process.
The best part: they recorded the whole thing.
Budapest-based cybersecurity experts PCAutomotive were able to exploit a number of vulnerabilities in a 2020 Nissan LEAF that enabled the white hat team to geolocate and track the car, record the texts and conversations happening inside the car, playing media back through the car’s speakers, and even (this is the genuinely terrifying dangerous part) turning the steering wheel while the car was moving. (!?)
Maybe the scariest part of this hack, however, is how seemingly easy it was to pull off by starting with a “test bench simulator” built using parts from eBay and exploiting a vulnerability in the LEAF’s DNS C2 channel and Bluetooth protocol.
The PCAutomotive team gave a hugely detailed 118-page presentation of their exploit at black hat Asia 2025, which we’ve included at the bottom of this post, in case the original link goes dead. If you’re into that sort of thing, the fun stuff starts around page 27. And, if you’re not, just know that all the vulnerabilities were disclosed to Nissan and its suppliers between 02AUG2023 and 12SEP2024 (p. 116/118), and the “attack” itself can be seen in the video below that. Enjoy!
Summary of vulnerabilities
- CVE-2025-32056 – Anti-Theft bypass
- CVE-2025-32057 – app_redbend: MiTM attack
- CVE-2025-32058 – v850: Stack Overflow in CBR processing
- CVE-2025-32059 – Stack buffer overflow leading to RCE [0]
- CVE-2025-32060 – Absence of a kernel module signature verification
- CVE-2025-32061 – Stack buffer overflow leading to RCE [1]
- CVE-2025-32062 – Stack buffer overflow leading to RCE [2]
- PCA_NISSAN_009 – Improper traffic filtration between CAN buses
- CVE-2025-32063 – Persistence for Wi-Fi network
- PCA_NISSAN_012 – Persistence through CVE-2017-7932 in HAB of i.MX 6
Remote exploitation of Nissan LEAF
Electrek’s Take
This is one of those posts that, on the bright side, does a great job explaining how a remote operator can “log in” to a vehicle and steer it out of trouble when a weird or edge-case-type situation pops up.
Unfortunately, this is also one of those posts that some of the more clueless anti-EV hysterics will point to and say, “See!? EVs can get hacked!” But the reality is that virtually any car with electric power steering (EPS), electronic throttle controls, brake-by-wire, etc. can be hacked in a similar way. But, while steering a target’s car into an oncoming semi might be a great way to pull off a covert CIA assassination, the more worrying issue here is the breach of privacy and recording – unless you want to spend some time in El Salvadoran prison, I guess.
Remember, kids: Big Brother is watching you.
SOURCE | IMAGES: black hat.
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A major new EV battery factory is being built in Sunderland, bringing 1,000 new jobs with it. AESC, Nissan’s battery partner, is behind the £1 billion ($1.33 billion) plant, which will boost the UK’s EV battery production by six times, enough to power 100,000 electric cars annually.
The 12 GWh capacity plant, AESC’s second battery plant in Sunderland, will be powered by 100% net-zero carbon energy. That big jump in capacity helps position Britain as a global player in EV manufacturing while pushing forward the country’s net-zero goals.
The investment is getting a serious financial lift from the British government. Through a combination of support from the National Wealth Fund and UK Export Finance, the project is unlocking £680 million in financing from major banks, including HSBC, Standard Chartered, SMBC Group, Societe Generale, and BBVA, that covers the construction and operation of the battery factory. Another £320 million is coming from private investment and fresh equity from AESC. On top of all that, the government’s Automotive Transformation Fund is pitching in with £150 million in grant funding.
This deal follows closely on the heels of the new UK-US trade agreement announced a day earlier, which cuts car export tariffs from 27.5% down to 10% for up to 100,000 UK-made vehicles – nearly the total number exported last year. That move could save car companies hundreds of millions of pounds and help protect good-paying jobs in manufacturing hubs like Sunderland.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves visited AESC in Sunderland, where she met with staff and local leaders to discuss what this means for the Northeast and the British car industry.
“This investment follows hot on the heels of yesterday’s landmark economic deal with the US, which will save thousands of jobs in the industry,” Reeves said.
Read more: UK unveils largest curbside EV charger installation of 6,000 ports
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It’s about the future of their jobs. Ford workers at two plants in western Germany are set to go on strike on Wednesday, their works council chief said on Monday.
Ford is facing a worker strike in Germany
In November, Ford announced it would cut around 4,000 jobs in Europe by 2027 as part of a restructuring, primarily in Germany and the UK. That’s still about 14% of its European workforce.
The American automaker said the move comes after it has incurred “significant losses” in recent years and a “highly disruptive market” with new EVs quickly gaining market share.
Ford blamed slower-than-expected demand for electric vehicles and a weak economic situation. It also plans to slow production at its Cologne EV plant, where the electric Explorer and Capri are built.
Last week, IG Metall members voted in favor of “industrial action” with 93.5% of votes in favor of a strike. “Ford must act now—otherwise, we will go through with it,” said Kerstin D. Klein, Chief Representative of IG Metall Cologne-Leverkusen.
Ford is facing an influx of new competition, including Chinese EV makers like BYD. BYD’s overseas sales are surging with a fifth straight month of growth in April.
BYD even outsold Tesla in Germany last month, with 1,566 vehicles registered. In comparison, Tesla had just 855, and Ford saw 9,534 registrations.
On top of this, Ford, like most of the industry, is preparing for more disruption with Trump’s auto tariffs. After releasing Q1 earnings last week, Ford warned that the tariffs could cost up to $2.5 billion this year.
During Ford’s earnings call, CFO Sherry House said that recent EV launches in Europe, including the Explorer, Capri, and Puma Gen-E, helped more than double Model e’s wholesale volume in Q1.
After early success in the US, Ford also launched its “Power Promise” promotion in Europe, offering EV buyers a free home charger and several other perks.
Source: Reuters
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