When people think of electric cars, the first thing that comes to mind usually is a golf cart. The electric cars that are being produced today, and the ones that are still in the development stage are a little more powerful than what you’ll find on the back nine. No longer are electric cars odd shaped, and lacking in power. Here are my favorites right now
Tesla Motors – Tesla Roadster
Tesla Roadster Specifications*
Style - 2-seat, open-top, rear-drive roadster
Acceleration - 0 to 60 in under 4 seconds
Top Speed - 125 mph
Range - About 220 miles (based on EPA combined city/highway cycle)
The Tesla Roadster has a price tag of about $100,000 but is by far the leader of the electric car pack. This is a sleek looking vehicle, with a decent range on it and quite a bit of power on tap. Its only downside seems to be the price. Green and good for the earth or not, $100,000 is a lot of money for the average person. Maybe only millionaires are green?
AC Propulsion - T-Zero
T-Zero Specifications
Style – 2 seat roadster
Acceleration - 3.6 seconds
Top Speed – 102mph
Range – 300 miles
The current T-Zero configuration, and apparently the one closest to being the actual production model is the T-Zero 3. The T-Zero 3 is powered by Lithium-Ion batteries. This saved the third incarnation of this car quite a bit of weight (about 530lbs) and gave longer charge.
PML – Mini QED
Style – Mini
Acceleration – 0 – 60 6 seconds
Top Speed – 150mph
Range – 900 miles
The Mini QED is more of a testbed vehicle, but it shows off some pretty impressive technology. 650bhp, motors on each wheel and 9 times the range of the ‘big boys’. Not to mention that its about 30 mph faster on the top end than the closest competitor. Like getting beat in a streetrace by a mini isn’t bad enough, but getting beat by an ELECTRIC mini could very well have most street racers crying.
Mitsubishi MIEV
The Mitsubishi MIEV is more of a concept, than a concept car. Miev stands for Mitsubishi In-wheel motor Electric Vehicle. This setup has an electric motor built into each wheel. Mitsubishi has applied this to many cars in their stable, but the EZ seems to be where the technology originated and will likely be the platform that brings this to the public. 2008 is slated to be the trial year for the MIEV – EZ
Chevrolet VOLT
The VOLT Concept car is an offering by Chevrolet that is supposed to come out in 2010.
The car is technically a hybrid, but not really. The car is charged up and then as its driving a small internal combustion engine charges up the batteries to extend the range out to about 650 miles. Not bad for an electric car. The VOLT is also a fairly stylish looking vehicle as well. This car actually being sold may not happen. GM has already scaled back number of units to be initially released to 10,000.
These are by no means the only electric cars out there. But honestly these are the only ones I could see the majority of people driving due to the other cars’ styling, range and power.
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