Re-Charge

2 comments on “Re-Charge”

1. Tested the updated car. Added weight helps, and it seems that CoM was moved. It’s better, but the front still jiggles and is generally unpleasant.

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2. Ever thought of having your own pickup transporter? Re-Charge has got you covered. Everything about the way this car looks screams electricity, from futuristic, glowy fascia through boxy shape of the body to a literal pickup spinning slowly in th capsule at the back. My first visual impression is as if you took a gen1 Renault Trafic and re-imagined it as a futuristic power station. It’s striking, it’s interesting, it stands out from other cars in a unique way. And there’s a huge amount of small details in modelling and the paintjob to look at for a moment. It’s a well done job on the visual side, with only minor things like canopy-body joints standing out as downsides. There’s one particular visual feature we’ll be focusing on though – the front axle.

   Axles are not the same width, with front one being slightly narrower than the rear. And while it makes perfect sense as far as visuals come to play, since that way the back half housing the power station is more pronounced – it affects the car’s handling very much. First of all, at 2.2 kgs kerb weight it’s a heavy vehicle. But most of the weight seems to be centered around that back half, for obvious reasons. What it means though is that once you get going, you’ll soon start to feel like you don’t have full control of the car – exactly because the narrower, and not pressed down enough, front axle doesn’t give you the necessary steering grip.

   Obvious conclusion to that would be porpoising on straights. Well, there’s less of that than you’d expect – but there’s also the factor of unrefined steering rack. It’s got an incredibly quick response time and turns the wheels rapidly despite fairly big max angle. Had the front been weighted nicely, that could actually result in a snappy but nimble car – but instead it means that at every correction or while turning the front will jiggle about. And I use the word “jiggle” on purpose. In corners the car behaves like a warmed up jelly held in your fingers – you don’t have any actual control over what it does, and your only hope is releasing throttle and waiting for the front to gain some grip so you can turn. Tapsteering also fails to help.

   You might notice I didn’t mention a word about the mechanical params yet. That’s because in light of Re-Charge’s issues they’re less important, even though they’re very good. Exceptionally good for such a large vehicle is top speed of 67-68 kph, very much depending on surface though. It’s coupled with a nice acceleration rate, on par with most other Pros you’ll come across. So, on the underside it’s not too shabby of a car – it just needs some work and polishing. Although, there’s one thing I can’t wrap my mind around – why is a mobile power station fueled by glow?

   Pros:
   – Very nice concept behind the visuals, with lots of detailed bits and pieces
   – Good params
   – Has a potential to be an interesting car

   Cons:
   – …if teething issues with its handling are resolved
   – Very poor weight balance resulting in unstable driving characteristic
   – General feeling while driving could be described as “plastic diecast with an engine”

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