A “Neighborhood Electric Vehicle” (NEV) is technically defined as a “Low Speed Vehicle” (LSV) by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 500. Per FMVSS No. 500, a LSV means a vehicle:
- that is 4-wheeled,
- with a top attainable speed in 1 mile of more than 20 mph and not more than 25 mph on a paved level surface, and
- with a Gross Vehicle Weight Rating of less than 2,500 pounds.
Vehicle Testing Reports Fact Sheets
2004 NEVAmerica Baseline Performance Testing
2002 NEVAmerica Baseline Performance Testing
* The two Frazer Nash vehicles qualified as NEVs when tested. August 17, 2005 changes (PDF 86kB) to FMVSS No. 500 limit LSVs to a maximum GVWR of 2,500 pounds.
Other NEV Reports
Neighborhood EV Study ( PDF 245kB)
This reports summarizes a study of 15 automotive fleets that operated NEVs in the United States. A total of 348 NEVs in a variety of missions were a part of the study.Guidelines for the Establishment of a Model Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV) Fleet (PDF 2.8MB)
KATECH (Lithium Polymer) 4-Passenger NEV Range and Battery Testing Report (PDF 1.4MB)
Test Specifications and Procedures
NEVAmerica Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV) Technical Specifications (PDF 221kB)
NEVAmerica Test Procedures:
- NEVAmerica Test Sequence (PDF 45kB)
- ETA-NTP002 Implementation of SAE Standard J1666 May 93 - Electric Vehicle Acceleration, Gradeability, and Deceleration Test Procedure (PDF 177kB)
- ETA-NTP004 Electric Vehicle Constant Speed Range Test (PDF 126kB)
- ETA-NTP005 Electric Vehicle Rough Road Course Test (PDF 133kB)
- ETA-NTP006 Braking Test (PDF 137kB)
- ETA-NTP007 Road Course Handling Test (PDF 326kB)
- ETA-NTP008 Battery Charging (PDF 184kB)
- ETA-NTP010 Measurement and Evaluation of Electric Vehicle Battery Charger Performance (PDF 109kB)
- ETA-NTP011 Vehicle Verification (PDF 190kB)
- ETA-NTP013 Level III Charging of Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (PDF 179kB)
- ETA-NAC001 Control, Close-out and Storage of Documentation (PDF 84kB)
- ETA-NAC002 Control of Test Conduct (PDF 104kB)
- ETA-NAC003 Preparation of Issuance of Test Reports (PDF 976kB)
- ETA-NAC004 Review of Test Results (PDF 89kB)
- ETA-NAC005 Training and Certification Requirements for Personnel Utilizing ETA Procedures (PDF 133kB)
- ETA-NAC006 Receipt Inspection (PDF 112kB)
- ETA-NAC007 Control of Measuring and Test Equipment (M&TE) (PDF 101kB)
- ETA-NQA001 Audit of the Quality Assurance Program for the Control and use of Measuring and Test Equipment (PDF 115kB)
- ETA-NQP001 Quality Program (PDF 98kB)
Video clips
These short video clips a a demonstartion of a NEV in different tests. The clips are soundless.
- GEM 2 passenger rough road test (MPEG 485kB)
- GEM 2 passenger front wet wash test (MPEG 393kB)
- GEM 2 passenger side wet wash test (MPEG 163kB)
- GEM 4 passenger rough road test (MPEG 613kB)
- GEM 2 passenger handling test (MPEG 1.8MB)
- GEM short bed truck rough road test (MPEG 2.1MB)
- Frazier Nash handling test (MPEG 304kB)
You may enlarge the image by selecting View => Full Screen on the MPEG player menu.
Some of the above documents are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs (Download Acrobat Reader).