It looks like a golf cart, maxes out at 25 mph and could be your next city car

I turn the key. The touch screen on the dashboard flashes to life. Colored disco lights illuminate inside the speakers. As I smash the accelerator to the floor, the electric motor sprints into high gear, about 25 miles per hour.

Welcome to the future of city driving. Maybe. Last week I test-drove a new way to get around: electric minicars.

Squint and you might see a golf cart. There’s a boxy frame with no windows and no doors.

But look closer and you might see that these minicars — alternatively “low-speed vehicles” (LSVs) in federal bureaucratic parlance, or “neighborhood electric vehicles” (NEVs) — are equipped to fill a missing middle ground in America’s transportation fleet. They boast many of the features and functionality of a full-size car, but at a much lower price, while delivering the environmental benefits of an e-bike.

Some even have heat and four doors for winter weather.

Although minicars are already a staple in Europe and Asia, most Americans have never heard of them. Safety concerns, inadequate infrastructure and depressingly few choices beyond glorified golf carts have steered people away.

It looks like a golf cart, maxes out at 25 mph and could be your next city car

But change is coming. Nearly all 50 states now allow them, said Daniel Sperling, director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California at Davis. On a recent trip to Florida, I saw them everywhere, and some cities are passing laws to encourage them. A wave of new designs is about to hit the market on two, three and four wheels — including one from a spin-off of Rivian, the electric truck maker.

Americans may have a tough time ending their love affair (or is it a forced marriage?) with big cars and trucks. But if 80 percent of daily trips in the United States are under 10 miles, can LSVs handle the task? To test the proposition, I revved some up in the Bay Area and tried to reimagine transportation unconstrained by old ideas of what cars are supposed to be.

Are these cars to drop off your kids on the way to the office (me) — or just a toy? Hop in. Let’s go for a spin.

The evolution of the minicar

Dan Sturges, who founded trans2, a company that built low-speed vehicles.

Low-speed vehicles aren’t actually new. Some predate Henry Ford himself. In the 1830s, people could watch the first motorized (electric) carriage blaze past at 4 mph.

The modern incarnation in the U.S. began with trans2, a company founded by former General Motors engineer Dan Sturges in 1997. He built small cars (one even folded) to substantiate his belief that we don’t all need big vehicles for our daily rounds in slow-paced suburbia or dense urban cores.

Although trans2 struggled financially, Sturges’s idea motored on under other owners. The U.S. government established a new category of automobile, the LSV, in 1998. According to that definition, LSVs are capable of reaching at least 20 mph and no faster than 25 mph (golf carts, by comparison, are generally limited to 15 mph).

LSVs are only permitted on roads with speed limits of 35 mph and under (cities and states can define stricter criteria). Mandatory safety features include headlights, taillights, seat belts, reflectors, turn signals, a speedometer, mirrors and horns.

No one is sure how many of them exist — at last official count, around 2010, the Energy Department estimated 45,000 LSVs (including mini-trucks) were on U.S. roads. They have become popular in retirement towns like The Villages, Florida, and Sun City, Arizona. Peachtree City, Georgia, offers dedicated paths for LSVs and golf carts.

But more cities are beginning to consider the potentially broad appeal of minicars: Long Beach, California; Charleston, South Carolina; and Richmond, Texas, among them.

In Europe, hundreds of thousands of “quadricycles” are powering this small but fast-growing segment of the automobile market. In Japan, about a third of new car sales are tiny “kei” cars. In China, where electric “micro-cars” sell for less than $2,000, they’re already ubiquitous in places.

“Small is the new big in cities,” claimed Nissan marketing executive Leon Dorssers at the launch of the company’s new minicar.

Convincing Americans will take some doing. Prices are still too high. In the United States, a bare-bones model without a cabin starts at about $6,000. Many sell for $15,000 or more — above the price of the most affordable used cars.

The second problem is infrastructure. Not every city has minicar-friendly roads guaranteeing a direct route to destinations.

This raises safety issues. LSVs are built to higher safety features than a standard golf cart, or motorcycle for that matter. But they’re not designed to withstand high-speed collisions with the hulking, three-ton trucks and SUVs that dominate America’s roads. Advocates say mandating that LSVs stick to slow-speed roads and tweaking infrastructure can address these issues.

But many people are still understandably hesitant to get behind the wheel.

My tiny test drive

I’ve driven all kinds of little vehicles: two-wheeled e-bikes, three-wheeled electric trikes such as Electra Meccanica’s Solo, classic golf carts and street-legal models such as Mercedes-Benz’s Smart series.

But last week was my first experience with a road-ready mini-EV on four wheels.

I met up with Matt Philipopoulos, founder of Cart Worx, and revved up one of the Evolution LSVs in Redwood City, California.

After I turned the ignition, the resemblance to my grandfather’s E-Z-GO golf cart ended. These LSVs run on lithium batteries, just like full-size EVs, which can pour plenty of juice into their 35-mile range. Their muscular torque let us pull seamlessly into traffic, where other cars treated us like one of their own.

After a vehicle arrives in his warehouse, Philipopoulos uses software to tune the performance profile to fit each customer’s needs. Some buyers are from golf or gated communities. But a growing share — about 15 percent — are buying to navigate towns in Silicon Valley. One customer runs his daily eight-mile commute in an Evolution D-5 series.

My main gripe was the precarious-feeling bench seating (higher-end models offer bucket seats) and the open cabin, which may test the hardiness of drivers in inclement weather. For my drive, a top speed of 25 mph was more than enough. But I can imagine scenarios in which extra speed would come in handy.

Aftermarket modifications can raise the speed capabilities to 35 mph. For now, that’s strictly off-the-books, since federal law mandates a 25 mph limit. But the manufacturers of Eli, a quadricycle-inspired vehicle due out soon, are among those working to amend the LSV standard.

The next generation of minicars

You’ll soon have your pick of minicars rolling out on two, three or four wheels.

One of the newest entrants in the LSV game is Also, a secretive spin-off from Rivian. Although known for its electric trucks, it has big ambitions for its small vehicles, said President Chris Yu, who spent nearly a decade working at Specialized Bikes. The key, he said, will be delivering a range of minicar body styles for less than the price of a used car.

A secretive spin-off from electric truck maker Rivian is one of the newest entrants into the LSV game.

Also plans to do this by relying on Rivian for a cheap supply of lithium-ion cells — and its design philosophy. All of its vehicles will share common technological guts such as touch screens, battery architecture, antennas, software and other components. Bringing most of this hardware and software in-house means it can cut out middlemen who mark up the cost above what most people are willing to pay and rapidly launch new form factors (its first product will roll out on two wheels in early 2026).

“There’s a pent-up demand for something better than a car,” Yu said. “The gap between a car and anything smaller than a car to date has become so enormous. But people are being asked to give up too many things to make that leap.”

How to decide if an LSV is right for you

I went looking for low-speed vehicles you can buy. I stopped counting after finding dozens. There’s the Mark — solar panels optional. There’s a fleet of sleek GEMS, seating up to six people. Two mini-trucks tackle terrain in a tiny package. Golf cart companies — Evolution, Club Car and E-Z-GO among others — offer fairway-inspired options. There are even pedal-powered, hybrid vehicles such as the ELF, the Veemo and CityQ. Many more are likely in the coming years.

Which makes sense for you? This can be trickier. First, you need to check local laws. The federal government sets minimum standards. But states and localities can restrict the use of LSVs. Some unscrupulous micro-car dealers will claim street-legal status for LSVs because of their top speed or seat belt. There’s more to it than that. Here’s an unofficial roundup of the latest laws.

Beyond that, you can look for a model that fits your lifestyle. Stick to lithium-ion batteries, not older chemistries.

Big dreams for small cars have died before in the United States.

But for anyone witnessing the remarkable invasion of e-bikes (now America’s best-selling electric vehicle), a minicar renaissance at least seems possible. Yu argues that the convergence of low prices, new technology and better infrastructure will usher in a golden age of pocket-size vehicles. “The perfect storm is happening right now for everything south of the car,” he said.