Vintage-inspired Ace EV concept from Alpha is gorgeous – Roadshow [CNET]

It seems that with few exceptions, many electric cars produced today either look like boring regular cars or they look like cars from some weird cartoon future. What I need, as someone interested in EVs but not the absurd, is a third option.

Enter Alpha Motor and its decidedly excellent-looking Ace coupe concept, announced Tuesday. Alpha is a California-based electric car startup that has unveiled two vehicle concepts to date (including the Ace) that appear to be based on a skateboard-style architecture. The other is a van-thing called the Icon, by the way.

Now, the Ace coupe is so striking mostly because of its decidedly strong resemblance to classic cars like the Alfa 105 and 115-series coupes and even British oddballs like the Hillman Imp. It’s also got really, really aggressive fender flares and tires with massive (for 2020 but perfectly normal for 1970) sidewalls.

The interior of the Ace is pretty minimalist, not unlike Tesla’s Model 3, but with a retro vibe like the exterior, except that instead of an old-timey instrument binnacle, for example, you get a large, horizontally mounted center screen. The seats and console armrest area are wrapped in nice-looking perforated leather.

In terms of specs, the Ace’s are pleasantly pedestrian. It claims a weight of 3,600 pounds, a range of around 250 miles and a 0-60 time of 6 seconds. No inflated nonsense or hyperbole here. It’s basic, and that’s encouraging from a startup. There’s no mention of self-driving tech or anything like that either. In short, it’s reasonable and restrained, and I love it.

Alpha’s website says it plans to have cars in production by 2023, which is ambitious for any car company, but given how not-bleeding-edge its tech seems to be, that’s not a totally impossible goal. Fingers crossed because I really want to drive this thing.