Automakers Provide Electric Car Plans
The world’s largest auto manufacturers provided details about their electric car goals, however they urge patience from consumers and subsidies from governments. These announcements were made ahead of the Los Angeles auto show.
Currently, the expensive batteries that are necessary to power gas-free electric cars aren’t powerful enough for long range driving.
A car that appears to stand out is the Mini E. which has a range of 251 kilometres before recharging is necessary. Initially, California and New York will get a total of 500 Mini E’s, available for $850 a month.
Nissan and GM will offer electric cars in 2010.
Government involvement is clearly necessary to establish infrastructure for electric recharging.
GM’s Chevrolet Volt plug-in car will offer an all-electric range of 64 kilometres and backup gas tank for longer tirps. Nissan’s goal starts at 100 miles but might reach as high as 321 kilometeres. To keep the battery price low, Nissan may offer an innovative idea of leasing the batteries to consumers.
November 24th, 2008 at 3:18 am
The range of pure EVs is an issue that is soon going to be resolved with more sophisticated, longer range batteries. So many companies have EV programs that there is a lot of R&D being invested in EVs in general and we are going to see some smart, futuristic, fast and long range products in the near future.
December 9th, 2008 at 9:07 am
The automakers are really dragging their feet. If an electric car can cover an average of 100 - 150 miles per charge, that is pretty much a good range for daily driving.
We would have to wait and see how’s the plan for electric charging station turns out. Many people are converting their gasoline driving car to electric. What they need now is more charging station.