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Tiny car made in Spokane could be big answer

September 21, 2002 /

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Electric vehicle Tango may be a solution to urban gridlock

Rep. George Nethercutt calls it a 21st-century solution for commuters: a tiny electric vehicle that zips in and out of traffic with the ease of a motorcycle but the comfort of a car.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Nethercutt, a Washington state Republican, gleefully scooted around crowded Washington, D.C., streets this week to demonstrate the battery-powered car he hopes will become an answer to urban gridlock.

The Tango, invented by a father-and-son team from Spokane, is designed to carry one or two people to and from work, or for cross-town errands. It can travel as far as 80 miles between charges.

The car is just 8 feet long and 39 inches wide.

It can accelerate from zero to 60 mph in four seconds, faster than the Dodge Viper, according to its creators, Rick and Bryan Woodbury.

"It’s fast, it’s efficient, it’s a beautiful car," Nethercutt said after his brief test drive around the Capitol and a nearby traffic circle. "It’s safe. It’s the best. I love it. I wish I had one." The fact that the car was made in his hometown is all the more reason to support it, he said.

Other federal officials also were impressed.

Kelly Lugar, a congressional liaison for the Energy Department, took the car for a spin with a department colleague in the back seat.

The two emerged smiling.

"That was fun," Lugar said. "It drove like a real car."

That’s because it is a real car, said Bryan Woodbury, who touted the Tango’s steel-tubing chassis and cab-centered design, which enhance its stability and meet standards of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing.

The only thing big about the car is its price. With just one demonstration model in existence, the Tango would cost about $80,000 — if it were for sale.

Rick Woodbury, president of Commuter Cars Corp., http://www.commutercars.com/ the Spokane company that markets the car, said officials hope to build at least 10,000 vehicles per year, bringing the retail cost per car down to about $18,000. If the company can get enough financing to build 100,000 cars a year, the retail cost would drop to about $10,000.

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