JPJePlate for EVs – plate design being replicated and used on ICE vehicles, which is not legally allowed - Related to e-bike/car, gas, alibaba, jpjeplate, legally

Awesomely Weird Alibaba EV of the Week: This four-wheeled e-bike/car

When it comes to oddities of the electric vehicle variety, it doesn’t take much to pique my interest. If it’s got an electric motor and a funky shape, I’m down to clown. But being an electric bicycle guy through and through, anytime we can work some good ol’ pedaling action into the mix, I’m all the happier. And this week’s edition of the Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week sure tickles my fancy!

If Teslas are too mainstream for you, but Fred Flinstone’s car is a bit too much effort, then I think I’ve found the perfect compromise. This electric bike-car offers everything its name promises.

It’s got pedals like a bike, along with a set of handlebars for steering and a bicycle seat for keeping you the perfect amount of uncomfortable. But it’s also got the enclosed convenience of a car, shielding riders from the rain and sun, though not from the curious looks of passersby. And with an electric bicycle motor, you don’t have to burn through your entire lunch just pedaling this brick down the block.

Of course, beauty is always in the eye of the beholder. And I’m sure the appearance will be divisive, with some finding it charming and others… less so. But more than just looks, this thing is about utility.

I’d say the design is perfect for anyone who has ever stated, “Give me the environmental friendliness of an electric bicycle but with the turning radius of a school bus.” Finally, a vehicle that lets you feel superior to cyclists and drivers simultaneously while enjoying the camaraderie of neither.

Combining the aerodynamics of a garden shed and the aesthetics of a cute dumpster, this electric bike car is likely as hard to get rolling as it is to park. But it’s got one main thing going for it: an insane amount of enclosed storage space that other e-bikes could only dream of.

Behind those double doors is your own mobile storage unit, and one that has every right to use the bicycle lane – at least in cities that extend such rights to four-wheeled bicycles.

To put numbers on it, this thing offers a massive [website] cubic meters of storage space in back. I’m not sure the best way to describe that in freedom units. Does 63 cubic feet mean anything to anyone? 475 gallons? A micro-studio apartment in NYC?

Either way, you could just about turn the rear box into a tiny camper – though it wouldn’t be the first bicycle-based RV we’ve seen.

As far as performance goes, it’s got a top speed of 31 km/h, or a hair under 20 mph. Considering it probably has the crash-test rating of a cardboard box, I’m not sure I’d want to go that fast too often.

The benefit of crashing on a standard bicycle is you get to separate from it fairly quickly. Crashing in this thing makes me feel like I’d just pinball around inside the cab until I’ve become one with the handlebars.

Of course, the ideal environment for something like this electric bike-car is not mixing it up with traffic. I’d much rather stick to the bike lane or bicycle highways – though I’m not sure how my fellow cyclists would welcome me there. Actually, I’m not sure they’d even consider me a fellow cyclist.

So alas, I’m not sure exactly where I’d use it. And at $3,000, that’s a hefty chunk of change for a vehicle that would have a hard time fitting into our world. But even though its place is hard to understand, I’ll forever love that things like this exist.

Just please don’t go and try to buy something like this from Alibaba. Yes, I know I’m not a good example and rarely take my own advice. But this is a, “do what I say, not what I do” situation, indeed.

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The Electric BMW M3 Will Sound Like A Gas Car Inside

BMW has released a new episode in its series about the upcoming electric M3 equivalent sedan.

This video focuses on how BMW is making the car feel controllable, fun and rewarding for keen drivers.

It also reveals what the first electric M car will sound like, and it sounds like a synthesized straight-six.

Automakers with a history of making good sporty cars are finding it difficult to replicate the same visceral feeling that kept buyers coming back to their cars for decades. Honda is trying to make an electric Type R, but it also doesn’t want to dilute its iconic performance designation by slapping it onto the back of an EV that’s not fun enough to deserve it. The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N proved that this can be done, but it's arguably tougher to do if you work from a fixed set of expectations.

BMW faced a very similar dilemma when it came to making the first fully electric M car. The performance EVs it’s put out so far are nice to drive and really fast, but they are too heavy and cumbersome around a twisty road, which is where a BMW should come alive, but none of its current EVs do. The only one that could was the original Mini Cooper SE, which was an absolute hoot around a winding road, but now it’s been replaced with a much more grown-up (and less fun) new model.

The manufacturer is now hard at work creating the first bespoke M offering, and we can follow along the development cycle through a series of mini-documentaries.

The latest installment in the series focuses on the problem of controlling the vehicle when close to or at the limit. It is in this instance that a BMW M car is truly fun, because it allows you to be a bit naughty behind the wheel, but without feeling that you’re about to lose control.

Throwing the car into corners to enjoy the plentiful grip and then powering out with the tail hanging out is an M car staple, and BMW wants its electric M model to feel the same in this regard. The latest video exhibits BMW testing a prototype for its upcoming electric M3 equivalent model in Sweden to see how it reacts and what it can do on a low-grip surface.

It’s worth noting that while BMW has put M badges on a few EVs, none of them are dedicated high-performance M models—it’s not made an electric equivalent of its M3, M4 or M5 yet. That seems to be changing soon, however.

The prototype/mule nicknamed "Nadine" has an i4 body but with bulging wheel arches that hide a performance variant of the Neue Klasse platform. We don’t know if this particular car has a quad-motor setup, with a drive unit for each individual wheel, but BMW has confirmed that it plans to offer this in the future M3 EV.

But while seeing Nadine sliding around a frozen lake in Switzerland is all well and good, probably the biggest reveal of the video is what the M3 EV will sound like. If you’ve driven a recent BMW EV, then you are familiar with the futuristic acceleration sound created by Hans Zimmer. However, it seems BMW is ditching Hans in its future M EVs.

The prototype sounds a lot like it’s piping in a synthesized straight-six noise that’s very similar to what current M cars powered by the S58 engine sound like. We don’t know if this is indicative of what the final production version of the car will have, but it’s probably a advanced fit than keeping the Hans Zimmer sounds.

Between the fake engine noise and the handling, which is being dialed in to feel like the M cars we know and love, BMW has us very excited to experience the electric M3. It probably won’t have the fake gear shifting you get in the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, but the Hyundai presents us what an EV with piped-in engine noises and a propensity for oversteer can be like.

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JPJePlate for EVs – plate design being replicated and used on ICE vehicles, which is not legally allowed

Launched last September, there’s no denying that the JPJePlate, which is specifically meant for use on electric vehicles (EV), provides the type with a unique identity through its distinct physical appearance.

Now, whether you’re indifferent to it being there or are chuffed to bits that it’s on doesn’t really matter if you’re a new EV owner, because its use is mandatory on all new EV registrations, but apparently some motorists who don’t have an EV think the plate is the bee’s knees, so much so they’ve taken to replicating that look on plates for their internal combustion engine vehicles.

Case in point, the vehicle you see in the photo here. Posted yesterday on the MyEVOC Facebook page, it displays a Mercedes-Benz vehicle bearing a JPJePlate, or in this case, a licence plate replicated to look exactly like a JPJePlate.

The giveaway that it isn’t kosher is that it’s on an A 250 sedan, which when everyone last looked isn’t an EV. In any case, while it may look like it, it’s not a real IDePlate as issued through official channels or authorised installers, given the missing ‘Rear’ identifier and QR code on the lower right side of the plate, which is where the digital signature is supposed to be on the legit one.

We reached out to Handal Ceria to ask if they were aware that such activity was happening, and the reply was that the plate isn’t legit and that the business has already lodged a complaint with the road transport department (JPJ) to take action over the matter.

The thing is, it’s not the first time a plate styled as such has been sighted on an ICE vehicle, and given the manner enforcement on fancy/non-regulation traditional licence plates has worked out so far, it surely won’t be the last unscrupulous attempt to come about.

Right now, the discrepancy is easily spotted when referenced to the vehicle it is attached on, but things could get murky if the plate is eventually standardised for all new vehicles in Malaysia, which is what the government is looking to work towards, specifically in terms of cloning and fake plates. But, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

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