Industry Automotive Number of locations Russia, Belarus | Headquarters Moscow, Russia Divisions ё-AUTO
ё-ENGINEERING | |
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Founded 12 April 2010
as CITY CAR Limited Products Automotive engineering
Industrial engineering
Power electronics
Control electronics
Automotive styling
Industrial styling
Prototyping | ||
The Yo-mobil (Russian: ё-мобиль; [ˈjɵ mɐˈbʲilʲ]) was a planned hybrid electric car that was going to be produced by Yo-auto, a Russian company that was a joint venture between SKD truck maker Yarovit and the ONEXIM investment group.
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On 7 April 2014 it was announced that the project was sold to the Russian government for €1, because "...the sharp weakening of the auto market has made it impossible to go ahead with the project, and make a profit.". As of 2017, no production vehicles were ever produced.
Background
The car was introduced on 13 December 2010 in Moscow, a product of a joint venture between Yarovit, owner of a small assembly plant in St. Petersburg, Russia and the Onexim investment group, headed by Mikhail Prokhorov, who is the leader and financier of the project. Prokhorov planned to invest around €150 million (US$200 million) in a venture, dubbed Yo-auto. According to Prokhorov, he intended for the vehicle to "break the stereotype saying Russia can't produce good cars."
Design
The car will be powered by an engine that can burn both gasoline and natural gas setup includes a no-transmission layout and instead has a generator that feeds energy into a super capacitor that in turn powers the car’s two rear wheels. Unlike other hybrid cars, such as the Toyota Prius, the internal-combustion engine directly powers the motors rather than a battery. It was planned to install a rotary vane type engine, with the pistons moving in a circle, rather than linearly. However, the inventor of the engine Mikhail Virgiyanov in an open letter to the company refused to continue work on the engine and accused the company of copyright infringement. Other features include a plastic body that can be recycled to make other structural components. Another feature is the ability for the vehicle to become a 20 kW power station for your house or business during a grid failure.
Fuel economy of the car is expected to be around 67 mpg‑US (3.5 L/100 km; 80 mpg‑imp), with a range of 680 miles (1,090 km) and a top speed of 80 mph (130 km/h). However, no tests were conducted due to the lack of working examples.
Criticism
The project has been criticized by Russian automotive specialists. In particular the project and its designers are criticized for:
History
Yo-auto initially planned to begin producing the car during the second half of 2012, and had aims to sell 10,000 during the first year of production. However, these plans were revised in 2012, with the estimated start of production was moved to early 2015, a plan that never came to fruition. While it will be initially sold in Russia, Yo-auto planned to sell the vehicle in Europe subject to compliance with European Union regulations. The cars was to be manufactured in a factory near St. Petersburg that would have an estimated annual capacity of 45,000 units. A second factory, to be opened later, was expected to double the annual production rate. However, these plans were also revised in 2013, with the estimated total annual production rate were targeted at 40,000 units.
In late 2011, Vietnamese company TMT and Yo-auto announced plans to develop a line of 2-8 seat cars for the Vietnam market, developed from the Yo-mobil platform.
At the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, yo-Auto presented a concept yo-mobil with sliding doors. Instead of mirrors, the concept utilized a pair of video cameras for rear view vision.
On August 15, 2013 official website of ё-ENGINEERING has been started.
On 7 April 2014 ONEXIM announced transfer of all the Yo-Mobile technologies to the government-owned research institute NAMI for a symbolical price of 1 euro. It also announced the intention to sell Yo-Mobile Saint-Petersburg plants. ONEXIM explained the decision by weakening of Russian rouble and declining of the auto-market in Russia.
In December 2014 Mikhail Prokhorov presented Vladimir Zhirinovsky with a gift of an advanced model of Ё-Mobile, ё-Crossback EV.