Hybrid Gel

Electric Cars, What Are They Up To?

The all-electric sportscar that caught the world’s attention last year is about to do it again this year as UK auto magazine CAR has published spy shots of the Tesla roadster undergoing on road testing near Lotus Headquarters in England.

CAR reports that what will be the world’s first electric sportscar will boast Porsche 911-style performance times; 0-60 mph in a scant 4.0 seconds and be based on the Lotus Elise’s chassis. Further, Lotus will be the manufacturer. The GBP 41,000 ($79,000) sports cars are set to sell this autumn.

Another one is that Car & Driver has road test of the new Honda Civic Hybrid over on their website. They also point out that while the Toyota Prius can take off from a stop using only an electric motor, the Civic Hybrid can’t. It is a bit odd, considering that the car is going for the ultimate gas mileage. The Honda Civic has a weak 20 hp electric motor while the Toyota Prius has a much more powerful 67 hp electric motor.

The dashboard of the Toyota looks pretty cool from the images I see on Car & Driver, it looks very futuristic. The EPA quotes the Toyota Hybrid gets 49 miles per gallon in city driving, and 51 miles per gallon on the highway. However it is hard achieve those numbers according to Car & Driver. Basically, if you put your foot in the throttle at all you’re going not getting anywhere near those mileage figures. I’m not sure that even hybrid buyers want to be left behind by grandma the stoplight.

Also, I am not sure that the Smart car is the answer to our urban woes like Bob delicately claimed in his post, not when they’re predicting a list price over $20,000. I do think that the Global Electric Motorcar, the GEM Car, is the answer, however. Base price for the GEM Car is $6,995 and it runs on batteries. And there’s a 10% federal tax credit on the purchase price of a GEM Car, at least until the end of this year.

Oh, it’s not perfect, not unless you live in a very mild climate, anyway. Sorry, Bob. You’ll probably want to add the heater/defroster ($395), the hard doors ($1,595), the gel batteries ($395) and the windshield washer kit ($75), so your GEM Car will run you closer to $9,000. GEM is a wholly owned subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler, by the way – don’t they own Smart Car, too?

About the Author

The author writes about 2008 Nissan Skyline and blogs at http://www.4driversonly.com/.

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