dj6372

In my apprenticeship days, a couple of us owned an Austin Maxi, an utterly hideous car but with the rear seats down a double mattress fitted very nicely.................classy I know

Very handy for a sleep over if you got 'lucky' in the clubs of Aylesbury, Dunstable et al

I remember the day it perished, driving down the M1 at about 60mph (scary in a wallowing Maxi) The bonnet unlatched, ripped off, took most of the front valance with it and cartwheeled down the hard shoulder

Ah halcyon days indeed

dj6372

A thing of beauty

Steerpike

At this point in time, the infrastructure isn't fully built out and thus, the govt. and the manufacturers are providing subsidies to offset the infrastructure issues. That seems obvious and not an argument against the overall concept. As the infrastructure gets developed (and the battery technology improves), the subsidies will reduce; that also seems obvious. Each buyer needs to evaluate their own local environment to determine if the car is viable (financially and logistically) in their situation.

I see no fundamental reason why an electric vehicle market can't develop, because the technology is indeed improving and the infrastructure is developing.

You raise the issues of battery costs, and of maintenance items such as brakes (issue raised by others); but you overlook the fact that the EV vehicles are incredibly simple mechanically - no gearbox/transmission to speak of, just a direct connection from the electric motor to the drivetrain. No hot engine, no oil to burn, no sophisticated emissions controls, no timing belts, etc. Common sense tells you that eliminating the Internal Combustion engine and transmission is going to simplify things. This is the scheduled maintenance plan for a Leaf (from a few years ago, may not be latest):

Tesla are doing extensive R&D with battery technology, and Tesla cars already have a range of 300 miles for some models. Tesla models are expensive but the point is - what is available on the high-end models today typically trickles down to mass-market models in the future.

Free access to Carpool lanes is a major incentive in major urban areas, as Nicky mentioned.

The cars have excellent 0-60 performance, something that is inherent in the technology.

And demand will only develop if infrastructure is in place; hence, government incentives in the form of tax credits /etc as a way to 'jump start' the market. Very obvious/normal.

Personally, I see the 'Volt' approach to be the most practical - a primarily electric vehicle but with a small gasoline engine in reserve, acting as a 'backup generator' almost. Conceptually, this approach provides the best of all worlds, and keeping the gasoline component focused as a 'generator' rather than a direct powertrain source keeps the mechanics relatively simple.

I have lots of acquaintances who own the Leaf, the Prius, the Volt, and the Tesla; they universally love the vehicles - and not for the 'cost of ownership'; they simply love the way the vehicles drive/run.

I don't own one due to my driving patterns, but my partner owns the Prius and she really loves it, and gets actual results of 45mpg (calculated by actual gallons/miles, not relying on the internal displays).

Current drops in gas prices are severely impacting the financial incentives right now, but who knows where that is going.

uk_grenada

Vanden plas allegro, truly mutton dressed as lamb :-]

I used to have an mg 1300, not a b or a gt, they made a variant of the austin 1100/1300 saloon with an 1100 or 1300 mg special tuning engine (mini cooper s twin carb really but you could specify a half or full race engine from the abingdon factory) with a wilton carpet, walnut and conolly leather interior. It even had a start button. And it went like stink, sounded good, and even had police avoiding features (cant be doing 120, its an austin...)

uk_grenada

Everyone shuold also try an mg metro turbo. They were nuts in that place. Screw on the biggest turbo they could find, the lag was ridiculous but you could go from 0 to brown trousers in about 3 seconds, and after 10 mins driving foot flat to the floor, you got a rosy glow under the engine compartment as the exhaust manifold warmed up to red.

Steerpike

Typical scene at my local Whole Foods Market in Lafayette, CA.

Pulaski

That wasn't nuts, the 6R4 was nuts!

uk_grenada

Why are electric cars a non-starter - pun intended. Because the true cost id very high, and talk of jam tomorrow in terms of the evolving battery are just a wish. You know the way that apple uses new tecnnology to cut the cost of the things it sells - no - well guess what - car makers are greedy too, and their shareholders and r&d depts have large spending requirements. Dont expect an electric car to be cheap unless someone else is paying for a part of its real costs, and that includes the poor in india and china who are working in sweatshops to produce your technology. Are there alternatives? Well, there are extremely efficient diesel and stirling engines available, 100mpg is purchasable now, fuel cells fed on alcohol might, fusion power may make hydrogen effectively free one day, but for now - its fossil fuels, or bio fuels. Bio is great, brazil is a shining example, but its too small now for the guzzling usa.

uk_grenada

Agreed, but not so affordable even then. Seen what one costs now...

uk_grenada

Nb the house of saud has said they are supporting their current stance on oil costs for at least 7 years. I assume you all know why they are doing this, to punish their enemies financially, bring them to the brink financially, and seperately, to stomp on commercial competition, make other production pointless. When this has gone on long enough they will own enough of their marketplace and by then probably also own enough of their competitors oil facilities to dictate terms to parts of the world. There is also a theory about maximising profits over time this way, not so sure about that.

Pulaski

If I was in the market for such a vehicle I would go after an RS200, not a 6R4.

sir_eccles

Where? There appears to be an allegro blocking the view.

CelticRover

Forget the Leaf; try this one.

https://www.yahoo.com/autos/faraday-...063650884.html

uk_grenada

Rs200's are nice, but again somewhat overpriced. Spotting future cars like that is something of an art form, eg a bmw 635csi is a very cheap proposition now, 5 years in a garage might show a very good return.

S Folinsky

I am reliably informed that electric cars do not have transmissions. This arises from the "nature of the beast."