00:00 The coolest feature to me is that it can get through traffic faster than any car in history.
00:06 We get so many reactions from people watching it, it's amazing.
00:10 Hi, I'm Rick Woodbury.
00:13 I'm president and founder of Commuter Cars.
00:17 I started this company 21 years ago.
00:22 It was based on an idea that I came up with in 1982.
00:32 I used to drive a Porsche from Beverly Hills to Hummus Beach every day and the traffic
00:36 was horrendous.
00:37 And I noticed that everybody around me was a single occupant in a car, taking up a whole
00:42 lane.
00:43 So I thought, everybody wants to get from point A to point B efficiently.
00:47 And in cities like Los Angeles, there's really no center, there's no hub, it's just everybody
00:51 goes everywhere.
00:54 I don't think there's any other answer except doubling lane capacity.
00:57 This is the Tango Car, a super slim electric vehicle that has created Rick's answer to
01:01 congested city driving.
01:02 The coolest feature to me is that it can get through traffic faster than any car in history.
01:07 Same width as a Harley Davidson motorcycle.
01:10 You just come up to a stoplight, but instead of waiting in line behind all the other cars,
01:15 you just go right up the line in between and you filter.
01:19 On the inside, well, it's very comfortable.
01:21 You're right in the center of the car.
01:23 You're on the driver's side on both sides.
01:26 So it's very convenient.
01:27 Look out either window, you've got better visibility, you can see exactly what's happening
01:31 around you.
01:32 You've got better visibility than any car I've ever had.
01:34 You can fit two people.
01:36 This has a Momo steering wheel.
01:38 This is actually used by race cars, the Motec Dash.
01:41 Four-point shoulder harness.
01:42 The pilots of commercial aircraft use these exact harnesses.
01:46 With a comfortable and easy to drive interior, what is it like to drive a car like this?
01:51 It handles really well.
01:53 We know it has a super low center of gravity, being that it has a dry sump engine that's
01:58 opposed, so it's got a lower center of gravity than just about any other car.
02:02 I've had it up to 120 miles an hour, so the length is 102 inches, the same width of a
02:08 semi truck, so it can park perpendicular to the curb.
02:16 This is the chassis, and this is the roll cage that is certified by FIA for a 200 mile
02:23 an hour race car.
02:24 There's about four times more impact protection here than there is in a standard production
02:29 car.
02:30 To me, this car is safer than any other car on the road, because it can avoid accidents
02:33 better than any other car.
02:34 This has the same rollover threshold as a 911 Porsche.
02:37 It turns instantly, unlike a motorcycle, which has to countersteer before it can turn to
02:41 avoid a collision.
02:43 The Tango debuted in 2005, and after actor George Clooney bought one, the car became
02:48 a runaway success.
02:51 Due to the nature of the build, the company can only produce a certain amount.
02:55 It took ten employees about three years to get nine and a half cars built, and this is
03:00 number ten.
03:01 It's been quite a few more years, but also it's a lot more complicated.
03:05 We've spent a couple of years just developing the new lithium pack for this one, but there
03:10 have been constant upgrades over the years just to get the lithium batteries and the
03:14 management systems to handle them.
03:18 This is the car that we sold to a customer in Perth, Australia, and it's in the process
03:25 of assembly, but mostly it's waiting on completion of the battery pack.
03:29 The battery box is here.
03:31 This whole bottom of the car is battery.
03:33 There's 90 kilowatt hours of battery in there, which will give us about 300 miles of range.
03:39 With all the work needed to create these slender vehicles, the production costs can't be that
03:43 cheap.
03:44 These cars have cost an average of $420,000 each to build.
03:48 And unsurprisingly, out on the road, this car gets a lot of attention.
03:51 Hi, sure, of course.
03:54 Thank you.
03:55 Yeah.
03:56 This is so cool that you got this done.
03:59 I'm so impressed with you.
04:02 I mean, that's an amazing thing.
04:04 We get so many reactions from people watching it.
04:06 It's amazing.
04:07 We have two people, both the driver and a passenger, both photographing the car as we're
04:11 going down the highway.
04:12 It grabs a lot of attention.
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