My good cousin HdF, who also lives in Beijing, found a very interesting vehicle on the streets. It is a Xiaoshuidi electric vehicle, Xiaoshuidi (小水滴) meaning ‘Small Waterdrop’. The vehicle saw the light in 2009 and was then called 小雨滴, Xiaoyudi, meaning ‘Small Raindrop’. Not sure why they changed the name, maybe Raindrop was already taken by another factory.
The vehicle cost around 5000 yuan and has a top speed of 35km/h.
The car can seat one and maybe a baby in the back, steering in de motorcycle way. Early prototype didn’t have lights yet.
This one has, it is the small thingy sticking out from the front, it has mirrors too.
This is another model from the same factory, also called Xiaoshuidi, with a different construction of the roof, the bubble moves back in one piece, car seems sligtly bigger as well.
For the wrting of this article I now saw about 30 pictures of Xiaoshuidi’s and not a single pair looked completely the same. This could be a good thing, meaning the factory is very much into innovation and experiment, but indeed it could be a bad thing too… Machine on last pic by far the most cool Xiaoshuidi, with a blacked out roof for greater visibility.
So. My cousin saw one and I have seen one at a show in Beijing, that makes only two. Why didn’t the Xiaoshuidi became a success? I guess it must be the weather, looking at the name and design the vehicle is clearly designed with a big rainstorm in mind, but it almost never rains in this town.
Maybe better luck down south…
