New electric cars: From luxury to affordable

By Jasons Rozentsweig


Up until recently the quality-price ratio of available electric cars was rather limited. They required frequent battery replacement, were much more costly in maintenance and were not even remotely considered as an alternative to internal combustion or diesel engines.

Those earlier models were not manufactured for the market and typically remained only concept cars. Twenty years ago one of the pioneers - Volkswagen Golf City-Stromer appeared as a concept. General Motors made about 11 hundred GM EV1 back in 1996. Tesla started making Tesla Roadster that can reach 100 kilometers speed in just 6 seconds. All these concepts were typically not affordable to a middle income consumer.

However, as improved batteries reached the market the situation improved providing great choice for environmentally concerned consumers. A popular magazine Chip has discussed pros and cons of electric cars that just appeared on the market.

A Daimler subsidiary Smart is considered to be the most advanced in terms of technology related to electric cars. Their new model Smart ForTwo ED will be offered for as little as 19 thousand Euros starting from September 2012.

The trick is that consumer will also have to cover the the cost of renting batteries. Another disadvantage of the model is its rather small size as in other Smart cars but Smart often plays the same role as iPhone vs Android phones.

Mitsubishi I-MIEV is another electric car for a city that can run up to 140 kilometers on one battery charge. The car was introduced in December of 2011 and is two and half times more expensive compared to Smart.

Nissan Leaf and Renault Fluence Z.E. can offer a longer travel up to 175 and 185 kilometers correspondingly. Both cars will appear in Europe in the beginning of 2012. Nissan Leaf sells for about 50 thousand dollars and Renault Fluence Z.E. will sell for 11 thousand less.

Opel Ampera also known as Chevrolet Volt in North America was the first electric car that went into mass production starting from 2010. After Volt caught a fire after a crash-test in the USA critics were convinced that lithium batteries may be dangerous.

Heavy weight of batteries is one of the major concerns related to electric cars. Unlike most electric cars that are adapted from a traditional model, BMW stock has finalized a new light-weight carbon concept BMW I3. The same material is used in manufacturing planes and racing cars.

Modern batteries in electric cars can also save the planet in another way. It is well-known that electricity demand reduced dramatically at night. New electric batteries would accumulate energy during the night. During the day the electricity can be returned back to the system and sold at a higher price.

It seems that in a few more years electric cars will become popular among assistant professors in macroeconomics and busy Parisians living in suburban areas with easy access to electricity.




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