Tropica Roadster Flies in Florida

By Clare Bell

Renaissance Cars, Inc. of Palm Bay, Florida announced that the Tropica Roadster could appear in dealer showrooms late in the first quarter of 1994. Robert G. Beaumont, President and CEO, said, "I firmly believe the time for the electric car is now."

Designed by Dimension 5 of Indialantic, Tropica fulfills Beaumont's EV success criteria of style, performance, price and safety. Design chief Jim Muir accomplished this by combining a super strong lightweight all-aluminum chassis with long lasting and durable ABS vacuum-formed body parts. Muir's creation is almost totally recyclable and virtually rust-free.

Twelve lead-based 6 volt batteries power twin Advanced D.C. Motors in the sporty Roadster for 60-80 miles with a top speed of 64 MPH. A 90-minute recharge can give a 100 mile daily range for about 96 cents worth of electricity or less if off-peak power is used. The 1850 lb. vehicle is 156" long and 72" wide with a road clearance of 5 inches.

A five-pound on-board solid state charger can be plugged into any 110 volt outlet. Energy from the 792 lb. battery pack flows through twin 400 amp MOSFET controllers, giving infinitely variable speeds to the direct rear-wheel drive vehicle. Tropica accelerates from 0-30 in 5 seconds. Goodyear low rolling resistance tires, double wishbone suspension, 4-wheel zero-drag disk brakes and a very low center of gravity provide superior handling and braking.

Carrying a tentative MSRP of $10,895, Tropica will come in five popular colors and will be sold through a network of established new car dealers in Florida. These dealers include Steve Moore Chevrolet Geo in Greenacres, Hull Chevrolet in Jacksonville, Vince Whibbs Pontiac Mazda in Pensacola, Tallahassee Motors in Tallahassee, Don Mealy Chevrolet Geo in Orlando, Mastro Motors in Tampa and Steve Moore Acura in Fort Pierce.

A Federal tax credit of 10% of the purchase price went into effect on July 1, 1993

Tropica is the first in a series of lightweight EVs to be built on the same chassis platform. According to Beaumont, the open roadster will be followed by a pickup and a closed coupe.

A prospective customer who recently visited Beaumont and Renaissance in Florida, said that Tropica handles well and the low-slung racy styling plus the wide track give a real fun-to-drive sensation. He added that while the Tropica was parked, some people mistook it for a topless Viper.

The company has been approached by two Japanese trading companies and a European consortium. However, Beaumont would prefer that Tropica be assembled and marketed in America and is looking for U.S. funding.

Renaissance has a representative in California to handle West Coast inquiries. For more information contact Dennis Kaiser at 407-676-2228, fax 407-676-2229.

CB, from Renaissance Cars press release.

Renaissance's Tropica has already vaulted one of the most difficult hurdles facing electric cars, getting a fair evaluation in Car and Driver. The self-proclaimed "Electric Car Skeptics Quarterly" says that Tropica "shocked us by successfully completing our full battery of tests by demonstrating reasonable range, and by doing it all at a reasonable price.

Car and Driver author Frank Marcus hit on the essence of Beaumont's formula for EV success, "...a great looking, fair-weather, short-range urban roadster." Beaumont's "happy-go-lucky goal" unshackles the Tropica from the burden of having to compete on the same grounds as the gas cars in terms of performance and convenience.

Tropica is designed as a great zip-around second car for sun-worshippers and doesn't pretend to be anything more. "A rather loud whir from the motors combines with the wind in your face to make the ensuing acceleration seem much quicker than it is." C @ D thought that the Viperish styling didn't hurt either.

On the economic side,. Car and Driver totted up Tropica's per-mile cost as roughly 2 cents for electricity (Florida Rates), 4 cents for battery replacement at 20 K to 30 K miles, 1 cent for brakes and tires to give an overall 6.4 cents per mile no worse than a gas car. CE suspects that Tropica's operating costs may actually be less.

CE managed to get the answer to the big question that EV'rs are all asking, namely why did Beaumont do a 72 volt car in this era of 120, 144, 300 V packs? In a telephone conversation, Beaumont basically said that Tropica goes as fast as it needs to and 72 volts worth of 6V batteries are sufficient power for such a lightweight EV. Additional voltage would increase speed, which Beaumont regards as wasteful. For these who would hot-rod their Tropicas with 12 V batteries, Beaumont says that you can store twice as much power in the deep-cycle 6 volters as you can in the 12 volt batteries.

For more information, CE is delighted to recommend the March '94 issue of the Electric Car Skeptic Quarterly, alias Car & Driver.