Now an electric Civic or Corolla with a reasonable utility and range (75 miles?) – sure. I think priced right (~$25K) they wouldn’t be able to build them fast enough.

Am seriously considering building an electric Beetle (old Beetle) of myself. Gathering prices and technology info as I have the time and interest. At worst it’ll be an interesting armchair engineering project. Wouldn’t need a big range, just 50 miles at 50 miles per hour to be a good commuter for my needs. If I could get 60 miles at 60 mph it would even be useful for my wife who works in the next town.

The Beetle is not as safe as a modern large vehicle but at 30-40 mph I would not have any qualms. Whatever the case it is safer than my motorcycle. My ‘65 even came with shoulder belts for all four occupants. Remember a ‘65 domestic barely offered lap belts.

Yep still cheaper to buy a $5K gas car but still way, way cheaper to fuel an electric.

Saw a neat classic Fiat 500 with a high-end conversion done on it. Links below. Strictly a city car with city car speeds they are estimating a 130K lifespan for the battery. The $9K battery pack is $4K cheaper than 130K miles of gasoline at $3 per gallon and 30 mpg. It’s been built in Italy where gas is somewhere around $8 a gallon. Assuming 30 mpg, that is a ~$25K advantage over gasoline. That means he could put two batteries in this car (260K miles of service) for less than the price of gasoline for 130K miles.

I could use much cheaper batteries for a lower initial cost but they’d wear out quicker too. I am neglecting the cost of the electricity b/c it is really, really cheap to charge an EV. Even cheaper if you already have a solar installation at your house (I don’t but I want one).

Sure an EV isn’t going to be a cross country tourer but it would be great for short distances which is what my family does 5 days a week in two vehicles except when we carpool which we can do but complicates things considerably. We like to carpool though when it allows our schedule enough flexibility.

http://www.eurozev.org/English.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee4v7nlUM9M

I think EVs are coming and while they are completely possible now (and SHOULD have been in wide use by now if the car companies had not backed away from them), I think the car companies will milk the existing gasoline technology for all it’s worth for as long as they and their suppliers can.

Enjoy!