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What Would Make Your Ideal Electric Car

What would be your ideal electric car? Range, price, space or all of those?
Is the perfect electric vehicle modular by design?

The word “ideal” is tricky since it conjures many things to many people. My ideal car is a two-seater performance electric car, say like the Tesla Motors Roadster but for others, it would be a sedan. Yet, listening to people around us, when it comes to electric vehicle, EV everything revolves around, range, price and cargo space. To add to the confusion, 80% of the US commutes 40 miles or less a day, making any EVs practical for these occasions. So what is this illusive ideal EV?

Ideal For You and Me. The ideal electric car can take on different shapes and forms, and the industry is still battling between electric and hybrid. Could an ideal EV be a Plug-In Hybrid, PHEV? It might seem so according to this KPMG poll (http://www.kpmg.com/US/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/Documents/global-auto-executive-survey-2013.pdf), where more than one-third of those surveyed (36%) said a plug-in hybrid, such as the Volt, the Ford C-MAX and Fusion Energi or the Fisker Karma would be the ideal car, compared to 21% the previous year’s poll.

Range, Price & Perceptions. Unfortunately, the range anxiety myth still plays a big part of the reluctance to go electric. If we are to determine the ideal EV, we need to take two routes, one that takes some freedoms, mostly do away with practical considerations and the other, the one that is practical. So we can set an ideal price range of $17,000 to 22,000 and a distance range of 100 to 300 miles.

The Ideal Practical EV. The ideal EV would be a modular. With that in mind, the Rinspeed EV Dock+Go is the ideal place to start. A modular urban EV that can add cargo space, perfect for shopping, or an extra battery for greater range, perfect for traveling longer distances. See our; Rinspeed Dock+Go Tackles Range Anxiety With Bolt On Smart EV Extension
http://www.torquenews.com/1079/rinspeed-dockgo-tackles-range-anxiety-bolt-smart-ev-extension
The idea to add modules to an existing EV makes much sense, since the base price would still be affordable and you can add as your needs change along the way.

The Ideal Wild EV. If the modular Smart is not your cup of tea, then let’s go bezerk. How about we take the Model S, have GM or Ford mass-produce it, put their PR & Marketing might to work and create a real buzz. It would carry 5 people, go 300 and could be sold at around $25,000.

Yet, no matter how you try, the ideal EV does not exist, nor will it ever and should never exist. We live in a complex society where choices might favor range or price, or even another cargo space. Maybe someone could invent a very affordable Smart EV conversion kit that could extend to the size of a Hummer with a 350 or greater range for $12,000 but that seems much too unrealistic. The ideal electric vehicle is the one that satisfies your needs 80% of the time and considering this, almost all do these days starting at $16,000 after Federal incentives.

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Comments

Tre Deuce (not verified)    February 1, 2013 - 1:03PM

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Ideal EV car?

Mine would be a small pick-up of the size of a 1980 Isuzu/LUV. With the power to tow a couple thousand pounds, and travel 300 miles with a half hour to hour recharge. I would give $20,000 for that pick-up, today.

LEAFican (not verified)    February 4, 2013 - 10:42AM

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To answer the ideal EV question one should first take the E out and ask what is the ideal vehicle. Automakers have gone to great effort to do this and came up with an answer. No single vehicle, or vehicle segment, is enough to satisfy everyone. Therefore the ideal EV covers every possible configuration anyone could want, and on top of that adds EV-ness; that is smoothness, quietness, instant torque, and no gas bill.

Personally my ideal EV would be pretty close to an Infiniti LE with a Nissan badge and price. I currently drive a LEAF and love it. Add a sleek, but still roomy, sedan body, and some more range, and I would be thrilled.

Nicolas Zart    February 4, 2013 - 2:59PM

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Yes, that was the point of the article, there is no perfect or ideal vehicle in the end. The Leaf was the first kid on the block and no one can take that away from Nissan but we do look forward to its next iteration, especially to see what Infiniti will do with it.