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5 electric vehicles: Most likely to succeed in the class of 2011
The rubber is about to hit the road. Here are my choices for electric cars that can succeed in the marketplace. They've got marketing, publicity, cool technology and more behind them.
Wed, Dec 01 2010 at 12:13 PM
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ELECTRIFYING: The much-anticipated Fisker Karma. (Photo: Fisker)
OK, the electric vehicle class of 2011 is almost upon us, and now is the time to vote on Most Likely to Succeed. Which green cars are going to float peoples’ boats? Which ones are they actually going to buy?
I’m in the privileged position of enjoying virtually all the cars in regular test drives, and probably won’t buy one immediately. But for many, the moment of truth is arriving around now. You’ve decided to buy an electric or plug-in hybrid, but can’t make up your mind about which one. Here is a highly subjective list, representing the plug-ins that I think are going to make it in the marketplace. Online stuff stays up forever, so if I’m wrong, this list will be around to embarrass me virtually forever. This in no particular order, though it may seem like it is:
Chevrolet Volt: This car does just about everything well, and it has been the subject of more online speculation than Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction. It offers up to 50 miles of all-electric driving, and then another 250 miles with the (very quiet) gas motor running. It does all that in a very sleek package, featuring a state-of-the-art dash display and advanced connectivity. And this from the company that was churning out Chevettes not too long ago. If there’s a catch here, it’s the $41,000 price, but the pain will be eased with a $7,500 federal income tax credit and extra subsidies in many states. Everybody — from President Obama to the governors in launch states and your local Chevy dealer — wants you in a Volt and will bend over backwards to make it happen.
Nissan Leaf: The considerable reputation of Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn rests on the performance of this little battery car, which is why you see ads for it every time you turn on the TV. If you judge electric vehicles by range, the Leaf doesn’t have a big advantage over the competition — they all go about 100 miles on a charge — but there’s a major market sophistication to the Leaf that everyone else will have to imitate. The $32,790 Leaf has a leg up, thanks to a big dealer network, massive early publicity, subsidies for chargers in many launch markets, and an undefinable “oh wow” factor. My friend Paul Scott, vice president of Plug-In America, is so excited about the Leaf he took a day job selling them in California, and told me he has already moved 30. That bodes well. Production is sold out for 2010, so you’ll have to get on the 2011 waiting list.
Fisker Karma: These folks are somewhat maddening to deal with, since no amount of cajoling will get me behind the wheel of one of these luxury/performance plug-in hybrid sedans this year. (It’s scheduled to hit the market in March.) The Karma is somewhat compromised by weight (more than 5,000 pounds) but drivetrain supplier Quantum assures me that it meets all the performance specs, which includes a zero to 60 time of 5.9 seconds in sport mode and 125 mph top speed. Like the Volt (which it resembles in overall layout), the Karma offers 50 miles in battery mode, then a conventional car’s cruising range (300 miles) with the engine running. Price is again an issue, since it costs $87,900 before rebates. But they say the early production is sold out, and there’s extraordinary interest. Let’s hope it’s a hit — I don’t want to write “Bad Karma” headlines.
AMP Electric Equinox: Here’s a company that nobody’s ever heard of, converting Chevy Equinoxes to battery operation (and getting them to go 120 miles on a charge). You could fit their total production (which includes Saturn Sky/Pontiac Solstice roadsters) in a small parking lot, so why are they going to make it? Cincinnati-based AMP Electric Vehicles just announced a 1,000-SUV order over five years from Iceland’s Northern Lights Energy (Full disclosure: I introduced the two parties, but didn’t take any money from them), it’s converting a trio of Saturn Vues for Detroit’s DTE Energy, and it has a good shot at getting into a number of corporate and government fleets. Plus, I drove a white one at the Los Angeles Auto Show (and earlier for the New York Times in New York) and I like the way it performs. The AMP Equinox is fast, rattle-free and solid — I wasn’t afraid to push it hard. Drawback, again, is price: $25,000 for the conversion, and another 25 large for the donor car. On the plus side, you can order one right now.
The other players: There’s a big group of electric vehicles coming from major manufacturers (not necessarily in 2011) that have a really decent chance of finding fans. For the most part, they’re based on production cars that have already succeeded in the marketplace. These include the BMW ActiveE (based on the 1-Series Coupe), the Toyota RAV4 (with help from Telsa), the VW Golf and Jetta, the Ford Focus EV, the Smart electric drive, the Fiat 500 electric, and more. I don’t see any standout hits there (maybe the Ford, pictured), but all should have respectable showings.Sorry if I missed anybody, but it’s a big and very unpredictable market.
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Very interesting! I definitely hope that electric cars will take off in the future.
70 mpg, without a Hybrid
A new Mazda model debuting in Japan gets its high fuel economy from an improved gas engine and a lightweight design.
Monday, October 25, 2010
By Kevin Bullis
If you do the calculations I think that you'll find that the inefficiencies in converting fossil fuel to electricity, losses in transmitting it to your charging station, and more losses in storing it and converting it back to mechanical energy in the car mean that if we all switched to plug in electric cars wee would increase our need for imported oil ! My diesel VW is probably more efficient than a plug in electric.
Wouldn't these electric cars jack up your electric bill by a lot? And the Nissan Leaf (what a stupid name) aside from the prius (another stupid name) is one of the ugliest cars ive ever seen!
I don't know about these new electric cars......
natural gas is the answer!!!
Don't forget Tesla. Their sedan is due out soon and if it's half the car their roadster is, it will be terrific.
Jeez, are there ANY electric cars that aren't gonna "succeed" this year? Sure, sign me up for a $33K Nissan Leaf, throw in another $4K for the ability to charge it at home (cuz that's the ONLY place you'll ever charge it), and then realize that after all that money, I still got to LEASE the batteries because their true cost would make the thing prohibitively expensive for anyone but Al Gore. Oh, and when I'm done I can go up to 77 miles a day. Yeah, right ...
In my plan for cap & tax, electric rates will naturally skyrocket! Guess who said this? And now you think people will spend this kind of money to go 100 miles or less...and in this economy?
The Nissan Leaf is actually the ugliest, poorest excuse for an "electric car" There is absolutely no infrastructure for charging this turd on any kind of longer trip and it costs wads of $$$$$ to get your home set-up to charge this frog based beast. Again, Nissan misses the mark!!
Next year you'll be seeing these crap Leafs stranded along the highway because their owners miscalculated how far they were from home at two in the morning. And they can't even walk to a gas station to get enough gas to get home. Real smart!
Direct response to an earlier poster - see this test by a UK publication.
http://www.allcarselectric.com/blog/1052024_electric-cars-cant-handle-co...
The thing that concerns me is that the range is being touted as 50 miles on battery, but isn't that when it's brand-new? If the batteries are anything like laptop batteries, they work great for about a year and then you start getting less and less life on them. Won't these batteries eventually start giving 20 mile range, and then 10 mile range, etc.
Hi Joe,
These batteries are nothing like laptop batteries. They are managed for temperature, draw, voltage, and SOC. Especially in the Volt, SOC is way underused, which means the batteries are not stressed.
They will lose some range over time, but it definitely won't be a big loss in a year.
..before electric cars are the norm and the complaint becomes "we're using too much electricity?"
with difficult answer. What i see now is that many electric vehicles manufacturers for industry (like http://www.alke.com ) at the moment focus on building more and more efficient vehicles, but the only power source is the need of the consumers.
This is not a big problem. Electrical power plants are built to handle "peak load" which means the maximum amount of electricity needed. At other times, like at night, many power plants are running at low levels. Utilities are trying to figure out ways to use or store that non-peak power. So, when are people most likely to charge their electric cars? Overnight, when we're sleeping, and electrical power demand is at its lowest.
I have seen reports that saying the energy required to charge the volt (mainly from petroleum sources) is more energy that just using gas. Are there solid reports out there doing a complete enrgy analysis down to source showing these electric cars are actuallymore green than hybrids or high mpg all petroleum cars?
I can't afford to drive environmentally friendly. oh well
Diesel vehicles use way less fuel than gasoline powered vehicles. Get a used Golf Tdi - they will even run on biodiesel.
Your comment is ironic in the fact that those who can most absorb high energy costs are the only ones who can afford low energy consumption vehicles.
Several employees at Tesla are beta testing the sedans. So far, they are running as designed. Quick charge takes 15 min.
Because Tesla doesn't buy expensive ads in their publications. :-)
I eagerly await the Tesla Model S sedan, given the success of the Roadster.
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