So I had never heard of these cars before someone mentioned them to me, along with a documentary on them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_EV1
There are tons of videos on YouTube showing how they drive, pickup etc.
I can honestly say I REALLY want one!!! The WikiPedia article said that they could cost somewhere around 33k - 44k … I could deal with that. I paid somewhere around 22k for my TrailBlazer ( yeah I know … I wanted a Jetta but someone talked me into a friggin SUV ) and with gas prices right now I get both raped and pillaged at the pump. I don’t really drive a lot but I did the math and my SUV gets about 14 mpg. GM claims it gets about 16/22 - city/hwy. but I figure its 3 years old, tire pressure and so on affects that and the 16 is OPTIMAL results so 14 is about the expected range.
Anyway, there is a documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?, buy it here ,that chronicles the story of the electric car, and it’s destruction. It really is a shame that car companies are so damn short sighted. I cannot express my glee when I read about how GM is getting their ass handed to them lately. I remember reading that they lost somewhere around 38 billion last year. (article here)
Hope it was worth getting into bed with all the oil companies. I remember talking to a few folks that work for Genital Motors and their grand plan about a year and a half ago was to build more BIG TRUCKS! These trucks would have basically the old Northstar system where 4 cylinders out of 8 shut off…. Horrible idea! I drive in the city, and that is it. I might hit the highway once in a blue moon, but most of my driving would not take advantage of that. Such is the case with most people, and guess what I don’t hear folks buzzing about the great gas mileage that these new trucks are providing. Most people that I work with are looking at Toyota, being that they offer some of the more efficient hybrids. That’s not to say they’re angels, they too had an electric car and nuked it.
So by now I probably sound like a whore spreading the gospel… with my SUV and all. Well fear not. I drink my own cool aid. About a month ago I bought a Kawasaki Ninja 250R ( 70 mpg ), mind you I had no clue how to operate a motorcycle, but I fixed that problem. There are classes offered by community colleges around here for 25 bucks. I went to a week long class and bam, had my endorsement. Last week I spent $6.73 on gas for my motorcycle and, $15.00 for the SUV ( it’s still cold & rainy in Michigan so I can’t ride every day ). Point is though, that even as gas prices soared this week to $3.80 / gallon I actually had a decrease in gas usage / cost. Fun thing is that I’m not the only one, I’ve been hanging around the motorcycle dealership I went to and there are tons and tons of folks there looking for efficient transportation.
I figure once the lease ( yeah … i know ) is up on my wife’s car I can start looking into something more efficient than a Malibu for her, and I can start looking to sell my SUV and get something else. Now I still want an electric car since the EV1 looked nipply so I’ve been pokin around and found the following:
Tesla Motors:
http://www.teslamotors.com/
Phoenix Motorcars:
http://www.phoenixmotorcars.com/index.php
Aptera:
http://www.aptera.com/
Miles Electric Vehicles:
http://www.milesev.com/index.asp
Now then, out of all of these I think Phoenix or Miles would be the choice for me. Here’s why:
1. Tesla Motors offers a great roadster, I would say out of all of them it’s probably the best choice if you have 89k to spare… I for one do not.
2. Phoenix Motorcars offers 2 versions of their vehicle. The SUV ( 50k-ish ) and the SUT ( 40k-ish ). I could deal with that. Most likely the price will come down as demand goes up, but they have to do more advertising.
3. The Aptera is waaaaayyyy too futuristic looking for my taste. I’m just trying to get around not pilot a spaceship.
4. Miles Electric has some “Low Speed” options that go up to 25mph … that sucks. I don’t know where that’s an acceptable speed unless I want to drive down my road and back… even that hits 35mph in some spots… so not an option. They do offer an alternative that will do 80mph, and that I think would be golden for me. I don’t need to get very far, in a given day I drive about 20-30 miles. So the range isn’t an issue. Cost may be. I was unable to find the cost of their “Highway Speed” sedan.
I know two things:
1. I am sick of fueling the global terror machine by buying their oil ( don’t kid yourself you know it’s true )
2. I am sick of being a slave to our nations enemies, and taking it in the rear every time I need gas.
Hopefully more people start to wake up and smell the coffee!