Introducing the Rodster: A Practical and Fun Microcar by Patak Motors

“It’s unique in that it’s small, but at the same time very fun. It’s an ideal car for the city,” says Adriana Patak, who is in charge of marketing and finance at Patak Motors. The Slovak company is developing an interesting car. It’s called the Rodster, it only seats two and it’s pretty tiny – measuring 3.36 meters long and 1.4 meters wide. “It’s enough to have a B1 driver’s license, so you can drive it even at the age of sixteen. And you can park it in places for motorcycles,” adds Adriana Patak.

The Roadster looks a bit retro, like a small formula, but at the same time modern. “We were inspired by cars from the 1930s, especially the formulas of many brands from Lancia to Bugatti with a ‘boat tail’ rear, a flap-shaped rear that is very aerodynamic and ensures low consumption. The plan was to build a car of practical dimensions, with which pleasant to live in today’s crowded cities, with which it will be easy to park and which will be fun. It should bring a driving experience close to a motorcycle, but combined with the comfort of a car,” explains Andrej Hulala, who is behind the idea of ​​creating the Rodster.

Hulala is also the main designer and project leader. He used to race and designing a car was his childhood dream. Another key person is Michal Vršek, who has previous experience with structural engineering and production and worked for many car companies. Another important designer is Norbert Klement, who designed machines for the Paris-Dakar Rally for twenty years.

The Rodster microcar can be powered by either a petrol or an electric motor. It was said to be the most difficult for the designers – to design such a universal construction that the machine could be equipped with either an internal combustion engine or an electric motor with batteries without intervention.

The gasoline version has a single-cylinder four-stroke engine located at the rear axle and a continuously variable CVT transmission. It will offer a power of 15 kW. It is an engine from a Yamaha quad bike. Patak Motors also negotiates with other brands that produce four-wheelers, currently with the Taiwanese TGB.

The electric version also has a power of 15 kW, the batteries are located under the floor. It can be charged from a classic 230 V socket as well as via a charging station. The batteries will be fully charged in 4 to 9 hours depending on the range version. The basic one with a 10kWh battery guarantees a range of 100 kilometers, the second one with twice the capacity promises a range of up to 250 km.

A car without batteries weighs 450 kilograms. The electric version should be 85 kg heavier. “But now we are negotiating with the Czech company Inobat about the supply of batteries that are lighter, weighing only 44 kilograms,” adds Hulala. The maximum speed of the machine is 125 km/h for the combustion version, the electric one is 5 km/h higher.

Although the Roadster looks like a purely fun car, it doesn’t forget about practicality either. 150 liters can fit into the front trunk, the so-called trunk, and another 80 liters can be loaded behind the seats. And it is always possible to choose either a version without a roof or with a folding roof.

The price of the Roadster starts at 16,900 euros (roughly 400,000 crowns) for the petrol version without a roof. An electric car with a range of 100 km will cost 543,000 or 602,000 with a range of 250 km.

“We already have homologation for the prototypes, but serial production should start at the beginning of next year, when the final homologation will also be ensured,” points out Adriana Patak. At the same time, the vehicle falls among the heavy four-wheelers of the L7e category. “We already have hundreds of reservations, where the client pays a refundable deposit of 500 euros, and 300 binding reservations, where clients have already sent a deposit of 70 percent of the price of the Rodster.”

Which option is more interested confirms that Western Europe is far less skeptical of electric cars than the Czech Republic and Slovakia. “While Czechs and Slovaks overwhelmingly choose a gasoline model when booking, in France, Germany or Italy there is a clear interest in electric cars,” adds Adriana Patak.