http://venturebeat.com/2008/01/10/27...over-the-road/

With all these small brands it reminds me of the 1920's. Makes you wonder what the automotive landscape will look like in 20-30 years. I can see more gasoline brands going the way of Oldsmobile and Plymouth.

 

Um, yeah, don't see a single "conventional" vehicle in the entire list. All either vaporware, glorified golf-carts or hyper-expensive toys. People like to think it's easy; just dump a battery and motor into something with four wheels and, tada, a car. Not.

 

Actually there are quite a few conventional style vehicles made by companies in that list, the list just didn't include them.

One of the few that looked most promising was Zap. Unfortunately the owner has bee arrested becuase they didn't come through on some orders and didn't refund customers. A shame...they had the most "normal" looking cars.

I don't understand why it is so hard to make an EV that simply doesn't look retarded. Teh car doesn't need to be big...but at least make it look normal. I see this as the biggest challenge for the EV industry.

http://www.spark-ev.com/zotye.html

 

hey im all down for an electric car it doest have to look great but come on there was one car i wouldn't be embarrassed to be seen in, and the other half are way to expensive. electricity isnt free either the cost of the car and charging it has to out weigh the cost of my cobalt and the fuel in it.

 

Wrightspeed X-1


Ariel Atom

 

My guess is that nothing will come of them. They will die out, be gobbled up by other auto makers, or they will be very small, low-production niche makers. I would say that they will have very little impact, if any.

 

The Wrightspeed X-1 is a prototype performance car using the Ariel Atom platform. It was developed to test the performance levels of the electric car. (Wright was also one of the original guys working on the Tesla.) My brother knows Ian Wright and has actually gone for a ride in it. He said it was incredible.

There was an article in my local paper last Friday saying that the biggest problem all these electric vehicle manufacturers face is the ability to mass produce vehicles as most aren't automobile manufacturers. Most of these guys are doomed to fail unless they make some kind of deal with a mainstream manufacturer. I'll see if I can dig it up.

 

Found it. Some of the distributors in the story above have issues...

Electric car's route is full of potholes
http://www.contracostatimes.com/cars/ci_9051861?

 

I will buy one as soon as a viable one becomes available locally.

 

interesting.