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Kyburz eRod Is Your Swiss Electric Version of the Caterham Seven

Switzerland is a country renowned for a lot of things, but its flourishing car industry isn't one of them. It's where you go to see purple cows and yodel in the beautiful Alps, but when it comes to the automotive industry, you're pretty much better off anywhere else.
Kyburz eRod in the snow 5 photos
Photo: Screenshot from YouTube
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But as we've seen on other occasions, the proliferation of electric vehicles is leveling the playing field, and now small startups can hope to find a place on the market. And as long as they're not targeting the industry's heavyweights, they have all the chances to succeed.

Kyburz is playing it safe by staying out of the big fight, offering instead the kind of vehicle that is clearly intended for those who just wanna have fun (sorry, Cyndi Lauper). The small EV sounds decent enough on paper, and watching it drift in the snow - with the Swiss Alps in the background doing nothing to dent the overall appeal of the experience - is enough to make you instantly regret winter. And not having a Kyburz eRod.

It comes in three flavors: Basic, Fun, and Race. The middle version comes with an 18 kWh battery and a 40 kW electric motor, which prove to be enough to power the 570 kg (1,256 lb) vehicle to 50 mph (80 km/h) in just 5.7 seconds. Our guess is that that's the top speed at which the Kyburz eRoad feels comfortable, but given the way it looks and how 50 mph must feel like in a car like that, it's something we could live with. The 18 kWh battery will provide the eRod with sufficient juice for 80 miles (130 km).

The Race model, however, changes things considerably. It gets a 39 kWh battery and a 150 kW motor. That gives it a maximum range of 220 km (136 miles) and a top speed of 140 km/h (87 mph), as opposed to the 120 km/h (74 mph) for the other two versions.

How much does this slice of Swiss electric fun costs, you ask? Quite a lot: around $36,000 (€32,000) for the Fun model. There's an easy way to shave nearly $10,000 off that price, but it will mean that the car comes in a box.

Yup, Kyburz is offering the option of getting the eRod as a kit car for you to assemble, but don't imagine that the long years of putting together Lego sets during your childhood will help: it takes somebody who knows what he's doing. On the other hand, you'd be able to modify the eRod right from the start, with a more powerful engine or a better battery pack. Still, bear in mind that it takes more than five men two minutes of time-lapse video to assemble it. The assembled Race version reaches an absurd $108,000 (€97,500).

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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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