God forbid Americans should have any choice of mobility. Leaving out California for minute, these type of vehicles sell and do well in areas of the USA which tend to be politically conservative. My in-laws lived in a Florida retirement community and after a number of visits to area, I became somewhat familiar with the lifestyle. Over the years I watched The Villages being built, since it was close by to my in-law family's community. While my father in-law didn't have a full LSV, he did have a personal golf cart. He also had a F-350 dually crew cab for towing a 5th wheel trailer. The one-ton dually isn't the best choice for those half-mile radius trips. While the pick up was the wise choice for hauling the boat to the ramp, once the boat was placed at the docks, the golf cart was the better choice to the lake on the community's private drive. BTW, my son's first behind the wheel experience was driving his grandpa down to the lake.
When The Villages project was completed my father in-law showed me around the place. The community has a separate infrastructure for low speed vehicles, which is placed within the community and goes into some shopping centers. It was paid for with private finances. The local Walmart even has a special parking lot set aside for such vehicles. It reminded me of the horse and buggy parking in areas where Amish people are prevalent in other parts of the country.
There would be very little modifications needed to adapt the Fiat Topolino for our market. The Federal Regulations are quite basic for these.
The Federal Register points out there are no federal rules given for Neighborhood Electric Vehicles. Gas and electric drives are lumped in together under the same term. The Topolino would have to be marketed as a low speed vehicle.
The State of Minnesota does have a separate definition and rules for Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEV in the US. The letters means something different in Asia.) Each state handles this differently. I live on the border of an outer ring and first ring township. If I lived in the first ring suburb, I could easily operate a low speed vehicle like the one in the news article.
Strangely enough the WEF type politicians are the most critical of these vehicles. Many of them are the Karens that are bent on outlawing Kei trucks. Some California politicians have been known to condemn low speed vehicles as well. They all seem to be part of the 15 minute city compound panacea the green dystopians advocate. We are are going to be watching you very carefully .
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