Sunday, April 22, 2012

Why Detroit Hates Small Electric Cars

Ever notice that most electric cars are large and overweight?  To be fair, not just in Detroit but in foreign automakers as well. We got all kinds of electric/gasoline/CNG hybrids from which to choose. Not by coincidence, these cars cost over $30,000. At the other extreme, there is the new Toyota ONE PASSENGER electric run-about (and it lacks doors to save weight). That's rather ridiculous - one passenger? You can't even take your girl for a spin! Not only that, but its top speed is only 37mph and has a scanty range of 31 miles.

The automakers mutter about the safety of tiny electric cars, yet they make the same size gas powered cars! What the world needs is a two-passenger, 50mph, 80 mile range electric with at least a bare minimum of comfort. The only problem is that this car would undercut the sales of low-price gas powered vehicles. Many people would rather pay $10,000 for the electric mini-car instead of $15-20,000 for a similar gas powered vehicle that has only slightly better performance and costs more to operate. Hopefully, the automakers will find some way to make some money off small electric vehicles. In China, small companies are making affordable two-passenger electric cars for a niche market, much to the displeasure of the large state-subsidized Chinese automakers.

No comments:

Post a Comment