When it comes to finding the coolest and/or weirdest EVs in China for the Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week column, I’ve never shied away from work vehicles. Whether that’s tiny electric fire trucks or an ice cream van shaped like a 60s VW bus, odd little work vehicles somehow have extra charm. But today’s entry is certainly unique among past offerings, making it one of the cleanest builds yet. Or perhaps the cleanlinest.
We’ve heard about tiny electric street sweepers before, which are particularly useful for reaching bike paths or other areas that wouldn’t fit full-sized machines.
But those are generally priced at closer to a quarter-million dollars.
This bad boy is somehow ultra-budget priced, making it a veritable steal at just $4,000!
Compared to an electric riding lawnmower, that will save a cool thousand bucks.
And while the riding lawnmower might be more useful for your own property, this street sweeper will sure come in handy the next time your neighborhood seems to have let itself go.
Cleaning a 1.9 meter (6’2″) path in front of it, this adorable little street sweeper is ready for an entire day of slow-speed tidying up.
It can travel at up to 12 km/h (7.4 mph), so you’ll be sweeping a beeline to the cul-de-sac in no time!
It also holds up to 180L (47 gallons) of water for a sprayer, meaning you could use it as armor in the next neighborhood super-soaker battle. Those neighbor kids may have an army of water guns, but you brought in the tanks!
For dry cleaning, the 150L (40 gallon) dust bin will make vacuuming up your neighbor’s overgrown petunia’s easier than ever. Hey, it’s their fault for letting those weeds reach the pavement. As the self-appointed neighborhood street sweeper, the road is your domain!
I know you’re probably wondering why the heck I would be interested in a mini electric street sweeper.
You probably think that such things are beneath you. But I dare you to watch the sales video below and not be at least slightly tempted to take a spin in this thing! And when the guy goes full Rambo at 0:32, well I’m sold, buddy!
A hidden 4 kW (5.4 hp) electric motor gives this thing its “oomph”, and a 7.2 kWh battery provides some serious run time. They don’t say exactly how much, but if an electric motorcycle with that size battery can get a range of close to 160 km (100 mi) in the city, then this slow moving street sweeper should be able to reach the state line, even if it takes all week.
And at a mere $4,000 a pop, you could invest in a whole fleet of these things. Clean the city by day, then enter them in a road sweeper street hockey game in the evenings, using a trash can lid as the puck.
Now that’s some action I’d pay to see! You could finance the whole operation with ticket sales. Where’s Steve Wozniak when you need hiim; Segway polo ain’t got nothin on mini-street sweeper hockey!
So while you may reach for the leaf blower next time you need to clean up after some edging, someone will have to hold my beer while I grab my own little electric street sweeper. Or better yet, perhaps I’ll just use the cup holder.