Introduction 

Although places in the United States (most notably California) have given rise to very interesting start-up companies interested in the production of electric vehicles, one must not forget that it is really the European Union that has been championing the efforts of many to make the market push from fossil fuels to electricity happen a lot faster.  For every company in the US that starts thinking about these things, there is more than one in the European Union thinking along the same lines.  One example of this is ElBil Norge AS, a company that was created in Norway and continues to be based in Oslo to this very day.

Company History

ElBil Norge AS did not always carry this name.  In fact, this company was founded in the 1990s under the name Kollega Bil AS.  For a long time the company was in limbo in terms of actually developing an automobile that could be considered roadworthy, but fortune smiled on the company when they entered into negotiations to acquire the design of an automobile that has fallen on bad times with its previous company.

Kewet Acquisition

The car was known as the Kewet Electric Vehicle and it was original developed by KEW Industries, a company that started in 1971 and was headed by Knud Erik Westergaard who placed the head office in the city of Hadsund, Denmark.  It was a company that actually did not start with the production of automobiles but in the early 1990s moved over to the production of the Kewet electric vehicle.

Unfortunately, the demand for vehicles of that nature even in Europe was nowhere near what it is today and as a result the company went bankrupt in 1998.  It wasn’t long before Westergaard was looking for a buyer for what he felt at the time was still a highly promising automobile design.  Eventually, he came in contact with Kollega Bil AS which was looking to making its own splash in the marketplace.  A deal was struck and all of the rights for the automobile were transferred to Kollega which at the same time went through a rebranding to become the new ElBil Norge AS with a new automobile that they hoped would take them into the future with good tidings.

Kewet 1

The first automobile in this series was manufactured by KEW and had the look of a buggy on the front but with a tapering back and just two doors with four wheels making it look like half of the closed buggy had been cut off.  Nevertheless, the first generation of the automobile used a 5 kW motor with four-speed manual control generating 48 volts of electrical potential difference during the process.

Kewet 2

The second generation of this automobile was not very different from the first generation.  It also had the fully electric engine of the exact same type and aside from some visual differences between the two cars there was not that much different about this rather tame step forward into the second generation.

Kewet 3

While the automobile was still under the control of KEW, a third generation was brought onto the market.  This generation generated the same 48 volts, but instead operated just on a one-speed automatic transmission that carried a more powerful 7.5 kW engine.  The overall look and feel of the car stayed the same during this period of time.

Kewet 4

KEW continued to tweak their automobile as Westergaard was sure that it could someday be a serious roadworthy vehicle.  Their experimentations eventually lead them to the fourth generation of this automobile which had 60 volts running through it on a motor that had a 10 kW rating.  This marked the first time that the Kewet had double-digit ratings for both the electrical potential and the power going through the engine.

Kewet 5

By the time the fifth generation of this vehicle came out, the writing was unfortunately already on the wall for KEW.  This automobile design featured 72 volts and 12 kW in the motor and while it was starting to look really good in terms of the actual stats, the financial situation of the company forced them to shut things down and move away from the production of anymore automobiles.

Kewet 6

After KEW’s design was acquired by ElBil Norge AS, they enhanced it even more, creating a 13 kW motor that ran the same 72 volts through the system.  They also changed the name of the car from Kewet 6 to Kewet Buddy Citi-Jet 6.  However, in the popular media this car is referred to as the Buddy and that is a name that has stuck to the car.  Hardly anyone remembers the Kewet roots of this car anymore.

In any case, the Buddy has rather impressive stats for a small car of its stature and cost.  It can go anywhere from 30 to 50 miles on a single charge of lead batteries, an amount that is expected to increase by nearly 80% if lithium ion batteries are used in the design instead.  Its top speed has been clocked at around 50 mph although in most situations users are going to want to keep the speed well below that.

This car is fully intended for driving in the city where issues like fuel efficiency crop up.  It is not intended for use on long trips and it is also not intended for use as a long-distance car even within the city limits.  Overall it is cheap and small and therefore appealing for the average city driver that would like to get around a little bit faster.

Like most of the ultra-small electric vehicles out there however, this design approach comes with some disadvantages.  The technology in the Buddy does allow for a steel frame made of tubes that creates a safety cage around the driver, something that is relatively unique for these types of cars. 

However, there are no deformation zones because of the small size and that means that crashes could be a lot more devastating to the average driver than they otherwise would be.  Smaller size means that things like anti-lock braking systems and airbags are also absent.  It’s impossible to have everything and choosing this car means choosing high efficiency and great city travel over those extra safety features.