It is imperative that we make a switch from powering our vehicles with gasoline and do it sooner than later. It is critical that we, as a nation, lead this charge. Our economy, national security, and of course environment will benefit greatly from this. Electric cars represent an exciting option and the technology is getting better every day. The truly beautiful aspect of the Electric Car movement is that it is being pushed forward by consumers. It is only recently that reluctant and crotchety old school car companies like GM have begun to listen to and give in to the demand of the people - for more efficient and environmentally friendly vehicles. The Chevy Volt and Tesla Roadster are two exciting examples of what car companies are doing now.

Time.com reported on Friday that the battery powered Chevy Volt is on schedule and should start hitting the streets in 2010 as the company had initially planned. It appears that leading up to this announcement Chevy was less than confident it would be able to fulfill it’s 2010 promise. As you will read in the Time article the team of engineers and designers have already cleared a number of hurdles yet still face dozens of difficult problems before the car will be ready for mass production. With an estimated $30,000 to $40,000 price tag and a minimum 40 miles per charge the Volt looks to be an exciting and possibly revolutionary vehicle.

Here is an excerpt from the above referenced Time article - “the car is designed to run on an electric motor powered by a battery pack. Drivers will recharge the vehicle from a standard home wall outlet. The Volt will be able to travel 40 miles on a full charge, and a small gasoline engine will recharge the batteries to keep it rolling on longer trips. GM says the vehicle will get the equivalent of 150 miles per gallon.”

I also read a piece from Wired blogs that referenced a website started by a New York neurologist named Lyle Dennis, aka, “the world’s # 1 Volt fanboy” (what a strange distinction to have). His blog is dedicated to everything Volt, he also has started an unofficial waiting list for the car that already includes “34,520 people from 60 countries and all 50 states”. Which the Wired blog points out represents an estimated $251 million in potential sales for GM. Not a bad start for a car that is still 2 years away from production.

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I also recommend you check out the zero emission Tesla Roadster (pictured below) which is now in production and on the streets.

It is a far more sexy, efficient, sporty, and expensive electrical car. With a base price of $109,000 it isn’t an affordable option for most consumers but represents probably the biggest leap in electrical car technology. With its 220 miles per charge and 0-60 time of 3.9 seconds it is by far the fastest, most efficient electrical car on the market. Tesla Motors recently announced that it is developing an S-Sedan that will get around 225 miles per charge and be on the road in 2012. The sedan will be more modestly priced, initially costing around $60,000.

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If you are interested in learning more about this subject I highly recommend that you watch the documentary, “Who Killed The Electric Car”.

Tags: Electric Car, Energy, Future, Lifestyle

This entry was posted on Monday, August 18th, 2008 at 11:03 am and is filed under Design + Development, Energy + Environment, Science + Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.