The ADAC, the German equivalent of the ANWB, strongly criticizes a cheap electric newcomer from China. The Suda SA01 misses the mark on quite a number of points. According to the ADAC, the EV should not have been approved for the European road network.
You may not have heard of the Suda SA01. That is not very surprising, because the Chinese EV is not available from us. In Germany you can buy it: there it costs € 10,390 including subsidy. At first glance, this makes it an attractive offer: the SA01 has a battery pack with a capacity of 40 kWh, with which you can theoretically achieve a range of 200 kilometers. The power of the electric motor is 109 hp and the torque 240 Nm. That does not ensure world performance, the top speed is 134 km / h. Charging is also not very fast: with a fast charger, the maximum charging speed is 22 kW. That will be a lot of cups of coffee.
That is still up to that point, but according to the ADAC, the SA01 is far too unsafe by contemporary standards. For example, the SA01 has no airbags, ESP or other safety systems, such as a brake assistant, on board. Even seatbelt tensioners are distinguished by absence. This translates into a poor result in the crash test, in which, according to the ADAC, in a frontal collision at 64 km / h, the head and chest of the driver hit the steering wheel hard, resulting in serious injuries. In addition, the damage after the accident was so great that the door on the driver’s side was completely warped. The SA01 also has no security that rescuers can use to get the high voltage off the car.
Still allowed
In addition to the dangerous result in the crash test, the handling of the SA01 is below average according to the ADAC. Due to the lack of ESP, the car could no longer be corrected during an evasive maneuver, the braking distance was much too long and wheel spin occurred when accelerating due to the absence of traction control. Despite the aforementioned matters, the SA01 may still be sold under the so-called ‘small series type approval’. This means that a maximum of 1,000 Sudas can be registered annually. According to the ADAC, Suda is abusing this scheme because it is not the intention that manufacturers place vehicles on the market that ‘do not comply with the current state of the art’. In the Netherlands, the Suda is not yet offered, but given the low annual circulation, it is questionable whether we will often encounter it on European roads.