Electric Cars: When Can You Get One?

With gas prices spiking over the summer and Detroit automakers getting rebuked by Congress for their lack of innovation, electric cars have been a hot topic of conversation. Yet the general public is still not as informed as it should be about what is required for electric cars to make a difference, financially and environmentally. Therefore, it’s important to clear up any misconceptions about the new technology that might begin to lead the U.S. away from oil dependency. Cars.com’s Advice section takes a look at these cars of the future, including what models you will be able to drive home and when.

Electric Cars: When Can You Get one? (Cars.com)

Comments

Americans are far behind other countries with the introduction of electric cars. With the current crash test standards there needs to be a new standard for medium speed electric vehicles to encourage production and imports of smaller electric cars that are popular in other countries. Electric cars do not come from Detroit, everywhere but Detroit.

Just heard that Toyota is working on a production plan for solar powered vehicle.

Scripps Howard news service is reporting that Ford will introduce plug-in hybrid versions of the Fusion and Milan this year. Being Scripps Howard, there's a distinct possibility the writer doesn't know the difference between a Hybrid and Plug-in Hybrid however, so don't put too much stock in the report until Ford verifies it. Regarding Toyota's solar car, the prospect of a real car being powered in real time by solar cells is slim to none. Solar may power some accessories or do a slow charge on the batteries, but that's about it, until solar PV cells become much more efficient sometime in the distant future.

Please enlighten us with a listing of these "smaller electric cars that are popular in outher countries."

And I just heard that Toyota is about to begin construction on a cold fusion powerplant as well.

I heard that Toyota is trying to make a car to run on a nuclear reactor.

What about the Aptera? It's a cool design and should start delivering vehicles relatively soon. It looks like their website has just been updated as well.

There are many exciting EVs in the offing, one being the ZAP Alias that is slated to hit the roads later this year. In fall of last year the ZAP XL truck was launched to a great response.

The Aptera looks very promising, and the radical design addresses the need to cut weight to get a practical range from the battery pack.