Micro Motors is about to start production of it's Microlino 2.0 EV city car. Production has been delayed until March due to supply shortages. The pic above and the video after the jump, are of the chassis production line which has entered pre-production ramp up. The Microlino 2.0 is expected to have a range of about 140 miles and will come in three flavors (two shown). Unfortunately, the Italian company will not bring the Microlino to the US market any time soon. Maybe if they qualified the little EV as motorcycle-esque like Polaris does with their vehicles, we could see these cute runabouts in urban areas in the US. It is certainly gratifying to see another EV maker enter production. For more info or to watch the production start-up video, click on "read more" below. For more info check out the previous post (link below).
Source: Microlino - Media release, pics, video. Previous post.
Media Release:
Production Start Update 2022
It has been quiet around us lately but don't worry we have been very busy! Since the successful IAA exhibition in September we have concentrated all our energy in setting up our own production in Turin to bring the Microlino on the market. The current Covid-19 situation and the resulting difficulties in the global supply chain have certainly not been the easiest times for our project. Nevertheless, we have some advancements to report:
- Progress in production setup: video with a first glimpse of our BIW & chassis production line
- Our online configurator is planned to be launched in February and the first test drive events soon thereafter
- Ongoing difficulties in the global supply chain force us to postpone the start of production to mid of March
- The delay in the start of production will be made up by faster ramp-up
But let's start with the good things first. We have made good progress in setting up our own production facility in Turin and want to give you a sneak peek of the production line for the new Microlino chassis.
The video just covers the production and assembly of the chassis. We will show you the final assembly line once everything is ready and operating.
START OF PRODUCTION
Our goal was to deliver the first vehicles to customers within the end of the year but the worldwide supply chain chaos is affecting us like many other carmakers. Despite our preparations to order crucial parts way in advance, the situation has gotten much worse and is now affecting more and more parts. Now, even commodity parts like simple connectors for the wiring harness have become scarce and have lead times of up to 50 weeks!
We are already producing vehicles with the current production set-up but at a much lower rate due to the missing parts and the shortage of larger quantities. These cars are used for additional testing and process optimization.
What does this mean for the start of production and the first vehicles delivered to customers? The situation forces us to postpone our start of production until we have all the necessary parts. With respect to that we plan to start production mid of March 2022 in a slow ramp-up and plan to deliver the first customer vehicles in April/May in Switzerland and soon thereafter in Germany. The good news: we are going to make up for the delayed production start later, by having a slightly faster ramp-up.
ONLINE CONFIGURATOR LAUNCH
The long anticipated online configurator is almost ready and will be launched in February, with the first test drive events following soon afterwards. Apart from the three editions Urban, Dolce and Competizione that we already unveiled, we will introduce the exclusive limited edition for the first 500 Microlinos ever produced, called Pioneer Series.
The configurator will be accessible to all our customers but in the first step only our Swiss customers will be able to make a down payment. Other countries like Germany will follow soon. The exact launch dates per country will be communicated individually.
We are at the finish line, let's give it a last push!
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