Who Killed the Electric Car?

[dark_drake]

This documentary was really quite interesting. It traced the origins of the electric car, and what eventually led to essentially the complete removal of them from the road.

I thought it was quite interesting. All the technology is there for an electric car that would serve the needs of the majority of people, and it's not too expensive.  We'll see what the future holds, though.

[deadly7]

On the subject of the electric car.. I just remember a Simpsons episode when they went to Epcot Center..

Electric car (in whiney voice): "Hello. I'm an electric car.  I don't go very fast... or very far."

Hybrid cars are much more popular right now because of the fact that we still have petroleum, so many people see it as unnecessary to spend more money on a purely electric car at this point.

[iago]

The problem is that people want big, powerful, noisy cars. It's about the image, people don't see electric cars as "cool".

[dark_drake]

If I remember right, the electric car was affordable; they could be leased for $299-$574 (they weren't available for purchase). Furthermore, the GM EV1 could go 80mph and roughly 120 miles on a single charge, which is more than enough for the average driver. What was nice about these cars was the fact they were quiet and it was only like 1/3-1/2 the price of gasoline to drive it (at the time of the production of these cars).  Since gas prices have sky-rocketed recently, it wouldn't surprise me if the relative price was a lot smaller.