Ping.
Electric cars will remain inefficient for a very long time. Electric power storage technology is the severe range, power and cost issue. There is no practical replacement for hydrocarbon fuels.
These cars will remain a liberal political statement for some time to come.
The BMW i8 comes with a 3 cylinder gas engine and the BMW i3 can be ordered with a 2 cylinder gas range extender.
Kinda like wind and solar.
I didn’t read the article, but based on my math I still pay 21¢/gal if you count the electrical cost for me to charge my Nissan Leaf.
I don’t regret leasing it.
why people are going apesh1t about gas being so low is beyond me. it’s going to be temporary, and will make’it’s’way baxk up for one or more reasons. good grief. it’s not going to be permanent.
It is a mostly a fair article except for one sentence.
It says the BMW 5 Series is competitor to the Tesla Model S.
Which is true. For every car out there. It implies the 5 Series is a direct competitor to the Model S. It is not. Model S is bigger with much more usable interior volume because there is no transmission tunnel. And a TOL Model S will smoke a TOL 5 Series or 6 Series to 60 and 1/4 mile. And is cheaper to fuel to boot.
The BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe is a Model S direct competitor. It starts at $78k to the Model S’s $71k.
I drive my Model S every workday. And a lot of weekends. I have driven it from Los Angeles to Vancouver without spending a single dime on fuel using only Tesla’s Supercharger Network.
The legacy OEM’s don’t want to cannibalize their own high margin products so they market wierd looking crippled electric cars.
With Tesla’s new battery Gigafactory they will reduce battery cost by 30% in 2017 and 50% in 2020. At this point it will be cheaper for Tesla to build an electric powertrain than for the legacy OEM’s to build an equivalent ICE powertrain.
That is why Tesla will eat their lunch in the not too distant future.
I’ve been shopping 2013 off-lease hybrids knowing that gas prices having fallen so much would depress resale. Two lesser-known models have caught my attention. One, the 2013 Toyota Avalon. Expensive car when new, the interior fit, finish and materials on a par with Lexus. Hybrid system works well, 40 city, 39 highway. Can be found in the low to mid twenties with some shopping around. Second would be the Ford C-Max. Maligned a bit when new due to an EPA mileage controversy resulting in their having to back off of initially claimed 47/47 mpg claims, and there were some first year glitches in electronics that appear to have been straightened out. Well built car, high seating position like a small SUV. The “Energi” model is a plug-in hybrid, meaning that local driving can be practically all electric, 17 mile range on electric alone. Can warm or cool the car while plugged in. Upper teens to low twenties.
There should be no subsidies for electric vehicles
The real comedy here is people making long term financial judgements based on what is likely a temporary situation.
Once the domestic production has been run out of business, the left will likely find some way to make it financially untenable to restart.
Just wait...
Electric cars are too quiet. I estimate that 11.4 billion pedestrians, dogs, cats, birds, mice, insects and possums will be run over by electric cars this year because they can’t hear these too-quiet cars coming down the road. Manufacturers need to add noise to electric cars for safety. Noise I would approve of are:
1. Junker dive bombers.
2. Hillary screeching.
3. A hippie stepping on a land mine.
4. Boehner crying.
5. Chernobyl melting.
6. Plucking nose hairs.
It’s for the children, people.