I am thoroughly sick of reading about Electric cars in the magazines I read. Yes, I'm a car buff and I buy Autocar every week, Car Magazine every month and Evo. No wonder my favourite mag is Classic and Sportscar---no electric cars there! Autocar is the biggest culprit--why don't they form a new magazine with their profits and call it Electric Car? Plug -in electric cars are useless. Let me give you an example: The G-Whiz, a hideous Indian car, is a popular city car in London. Drive from Oxford Street to the British museum and half your miles (about 48) are used up. Hope the silly drivers can get back again!If they do they must plug in to an electricity source. Even if Boris Johnson put plugs all over London how tedious could that be? I mean 48 miles maximum--It is quite pathetic.
Electric cars are mainly powered by Lithium ion batteries (you can get them for your camera)and they have to be re-charged(just like your camera). Problem is electric cars don't take pictures and when your batteries run out you could be stranded half-way to your favourite aunty fifty miles away.
I see no immediate future for electric cars until they develop batteries that can take you down to Brighton and back without having to look at the dying volt meter.
Automobile magazine USA tested the Tesla Roadster (developed by Lotus) and managed a maximum of 189 miles on one run. True the Tesla is a sports car and has huge power developed by those batteries----but would it get you to Birmingham and back?
I'm not convinced by electric cars (remember the milkman could not travel too far in his!)and there remains a lot of work to do on battery power thus range before they can compete with hybrids (Prius et al with engine/electric motors working in tandem). That's the way to go for now.
The electric car's time will come because it is so "clean" but not for at least another 5 years. I personally expect an electric car to have a 500 to 1000 mile range--then we're talking progress!
