StrikeEngine

Videos – Parts – Information – Directory – Insurance

Electric Cars Suck – Or so we thought

We had abosultely no time whatsoever for electric cars until we saw an article on some motoring show about the Nissan Leaf which made us think twice

Blah blah blah it covers the usual jazz about cars but at the end it covers the fact that got us thinking, this car does the equivalent of 150mpg.
And they also point out that 90% of all car journeys last less than 10minutes or something like that.

My concerns of range anxiety went out the window. I thought to myself, yeah, 90% of my journeys are less than 30mins and 20miles. The Nissan Leaf could save me serious money but then came the punch line, its 26K with the government subsidy! Lets forget the price though for a minute.

Forget range anxiety, I could use the Nissan Leaf to commute and use my proper car on the weekend when I need to do some distance. Electric cars, right now are the perfect money saving commuter car. Granted, you will also have to have another proper car to travel anywhere remotely serious but for 90% of the time an electric car will be bloody perfect.

Instead of spending 50quid a week on fuel I could be spending 15quid.

One problem though, the car manufacturers haven’t got the first clue about how to market these cars. Nissan for example are trying to sell the Leaf with Sat Nav, I mean what the hell is the point in that. You would need a week to get anywhere you were unfamiliar with. It isn’t going to happen.

Also they put 5 seats in it, why??!!??!! How many people do you see commuting to work with 2 people in the car let alone 5.

And then there is the price, 26K. I mean who can afford to spend 26K on a second car?

The time for the electric car is now but the car manufacturers like Nissan need to be honest with themselves that pure electric power is a million miles away from being suitable as the power source for your main car.

This is what an electric car should be like
2 seats, so you can take someone with you if you need to and also to give you room for the weekly shop.
Absolutely bare minimum inside, basic radio, maybe air con, keep fit windows, no sunroof, little or no sound deadening, composite/plastic panels, basically it should be as light as possible and as cheap as possible

And thats it, the only thing an electric car is good for is commuting short distances to work or going to the shops.

The sooner the car manufacturers admit this and start building electric cars around this the sooner they will start selling quantities and perhaps start making money from them. Pointless having comfy seats, sat-nav, good rear legroom, when you are never going to drive far enough to appreciate them.

If Nissan came out with a lightweight basic Smart now with electric power for say 10K, I would be all over it, Id get my money back in 5 years comparing to buying a petrol powered Smart

The time for a basic 2 seater electric car is now!

Find performance parts on ebay




This page was last modified Apr 4, 2011 @ 1:06 pm

StrikeEngine TV Highlights

Comments:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

eight + 5 =

Get our news in your inbox - Subscribe

* indicates required