Stop firing! Kalashnikov is going to make electric cars
No, no joke. Kalashnikov, the firearms manufacturer, enters a different market and starts producing electric cars.
We know the name Kalashnikov, of course, from the rifle. Who didn’t shoot it. In Call of Duty, hey. A Kalashnikov is one of a series of automatic rifles based on Mikhail Kalashnikov’s original design. They are officially known in Russian as “Avtomát Kaláshnikova”, but are commonly known as Kalashnikovs, AKs, or in Russian slang a “Kalash”.
Kalashnikov and electric cars
After 214 years of making weapons, the company is now looking at a slice of the EV market. The first thought is of course a tough army tank with guns and missiles everywhere. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Patent images, recently published in the open database of the Russian Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (FIPS), show the possible production version of two urban electric minicars: a four-wheeler and a tricycle.
Kalashnikov first showed his UV-4 quadricycle in 2018, initially presented as a prototype at the international forum ARMY. There is also a taxi version. This version basically shared the same features as the original but had an improved air conditioning and heating system.
Styling
The styling and design of Russian, or cars from the East, are not enough. The new patent images indicate that the UV-4 hasn’t changed much, retaining its original odd four-wheeler shape. Making it very much like an elongated Renault Twizy, the military-style doors and exposed wheels.
Assuming it shares the same specs with its predecessors, it would have an (unspecified) battery pack that should enable a top speed of 80km/h and a range of 150km. The company has also reported a power output of 67 horsepower.
As for the interior, we can expect it to keep the minimalist style of the exterior design. You only have the essentials. Perhaps the vehicle can become more popular in the East simply because of the name alone. Here with us, in the West, it will be a lot more difficult.
