Electric Cars

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 23:59:59 -800

Yes, I actually went to Ecomotion, a green-car dealership on Sandy Boulevard.
In addition to "good enough mileage" cars (Civics, Hybrids, and other small
cars) they sell a 4-wheeled electric box^Wwagon by Miles and 3-wheel Zapcars.
I didn't really have an opportunity to test them--the Miles EV claimed not to
go above 25mph ("government regulation" claimed the sales lady) which made it
impractical to test anywhere near Sandy (35mph speed limits). That said, it
looked like it could (just barely) seat four. Crash protection might be
minimal--none of the usual manufacturer brochures of "look at the frame, it
will keep you alive when you ram something at 70!" The Zapcars are classified
as motorcycles due to the three-wheel design; though they claim a top speed
of 40mph, I was off-put by the lack of sheet metal. Maybe the car was made
from fiberglass? In any case, the range on those cars was not more than a few
hundred miles. This did not come as a surprise to me, so I conclude--gasoline
is still a great fuel, because it packs a lot of energy into an easily portable
format. Electricity is a great idea, but admittedly the all-electric cars
remind me of 1920s autos in terms of speed and range. Oh well, some day.