Electric Mini Cooper
Posted by PC in Cars, tags: Electric car, ElectricMini, Mini Cooper
Every time a new electric vehicle is announced or I see more information I get excited. The Mini Cooper is a letdown, however. There will only be 500 of them, their US market will be limited, and the cost is beyond reasonable. The Electric Car Blog has more details including cost on it along with some pictures. Wired also has some information. It looks nice, but looks do not justify that cost. It just sounds a lot like the EV1. Will it actually ever become a consumer car?
I am still waiting for an affordable car that can reach 50 MPH, take me at least 30 miles on a charge, and be affordable. I don’t think car manufacturers understand that the market really does exist. With gas prices going back down they seem to believe that consumer demand will also decline. There are still environmentally conscious people who would like to drive a car that does not burn fossil fuels in an inefficient manner.
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I never really understood the electric car industry. After all these years the cars are still expensive and either don’t reach a decent speed or they are quickly without electric fuel. In these days where the technology is so advanced and evolves so drastically - combined with the fact that Mother Earth is drying up (and too expensive) - it must be possible to create a useful electric car.
And it maybe expensive for research and development but if you see at those car shows what some brands make purely for fun and showing off, costs more than we will ever have on our bank account.
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Yes, the concept car industry is quite silly. I understand that they learn things that they can subsequently put in production model cars, but it still doesn’t make any sense to me why we don’t have cars that look similar to what 80’s era movies anticipated.
If the concept car industry put that energy into electric vehicles we would have viable options right now. If you take a look at some of the controversy regarding the EV1, some of the arguments sound plausible such as maintenance. If an electric car will outlive its gasoline counterparts and be more reliable and easier to maintain, then in order to maintain their same revenue, these automobile industries will have to charge more, even if the vehicles themselves cost less to produce.
The electric car industry is under constant pressure from the oil industry. Companies like chevron buy up patents on batteries, then cancel contracts for automakers. Cars exist now that easily get 40+ miles per charge, with an extra 300 miles using gas to power a generator. The price of the cars is the only drawback. With the Chevy Volt coming in 2010, is should be interesting how low prices can go. If someone can make even a slight advance in battery technology, the industry would skyrocket.
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@Turnip
I think if someone could prove that was true that it would be considered anti-competitive. Especially in the current economic and political environment I think there would be some serious repercussions for those companies.
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/08/03/chevron-drains-battery-planned-for-mercedes-ml-450-hybrid-merce/ Is the site I rad about chevron. no idea if it’s true or not.
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Hi. How are you? It’s nice to read your blog. So, I just drop EC for you. Keep on working on it. Don’t forget to Keep on Smiling. Salaam.
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@Turnip
Thanks, I’m going to do some more reading in that area.