New car technology is almost here. Wait, what? This technology has been around for more than ten years? What happened?
Well, you don't have to watch Who Killed the Electric Car to know that without proper investments of time and money, technology goes nowhere. $.99, and even $1.50 a gallon gas was at the root of the problem ten years ago. California pushed for it, but even its efforts were eventually overcome by a board of fools. Special interests were trying to push hydrogen power instead. Ten years later, no one is talking about hydrogen, and no one will be until the costs have been greatly reduced.
So now, finally, the electric car is here. The cost seems reasonable for a first generation product. So far, Nissan is the only manufacturer with a pure electric car, slated to make its official debut before the end of the year. The catch is that its battery is only rated to last about 100 miles per charge. That's a big problem if your family only owns one car. But how many families only own one car? A "green" family will probably already own a Prius, a car that does 50 mpg for trips. Add in a Leaf for driving to work/outings to the store, and you've got all your bases covered.
The first year you can be sure that quantities will be limited. There has been talk that dealers are going to gouge prices several thousand over list price. That, combined with typical first generation problems, and the thought of purchasing one of these cars becomes a whole lot more pleasant by the time 2012 rolls around.
A solid review of the Nissan Leaf, along with this one. Oh, and by the way, for all the morons out there-an electric car powered by coal energy is much more efficient than an internal combustion engine powered by gas. It's not even close. It's also another reason for the adoption of solar panels and/or wind turbines as a power source at your home.
