This little white wonder is not a Mercedes-Benz
G-Class but a Qifeng K7 LSEV made to look look like one. Most brilliant are the
fender-mounted indicators that appear to be larger than the G’s. The Qifeng K7
is made by a company called Qifeng Auto. They used to be independent but they
were gobbled up by Lichi Electric Vehicle Corporation, one of the largest
LSEV makers in China. Lichi also likes Mercedes-Benz; they cloned the new
Smart.
The K7 is available with an electric motor with 5.3 hp
or one with 6.7 hp, mated either to a 60v or a 72v lead-acid battery. Top speed
for the 6.7hp/72v combination is 50 kilometers per hour and range is 170
kilometers. Size: 3290/1482/1614 mm, and wheelbase is 2143 mm. Price for all this
pretty starts at 24.988 yuan or US$ 3620.
Low-speed electrical vehicles (LSEVs) are very
popular in China, especially in smaller cities. They are not allowed in
highways and are not allowed to go faster than 50 km/h. In the past it was
mostly the elderly and the disabled who bought these cars, but these days
everybody buys. They are a brilliant solution if you just need to move around
in the city. Enough range to go shopping, they can park everywhere, and use the
bicycle lane to get bye the traffic jams.
Legally however the situation is a but murky.
Regulations for these cars are drafted at city level, so the rules differ
everywhere. In most big cities like Beijing or Shanghai LSEVs are forbidden to
enter the city center. In Beijing they are not allowed inside the Fifth Ring
Road, although in practice they are all over the place. The central government
has long been talking about a nationwide rulebook, but this has come to nothing
so far.
The interior isn’t that bad for the segment, and not
that much worse than the outgoing G. The big knob on the left side of the
screen in the drive selector. There is an SD slot, a USD slot, WiFi, the radio,
and AUX in, and even GPS. The media player can play music and video. It wasn’t
long ago that you had to pay thousands of extra euro to get something like this
in your Mercedes.
