Affordable Short Range Electric Vehicle

From Ecogeek.com

Yet another really interesting article on Ecogeek this week. There is going to be a new short range electric vehicle on the market soon that sells for less the $7,000! Wow. Now that is really something. I mean $7,000 is quite affordable for anyone, especially if you were to put it on a 5 year auto loan! There are a few less exciting details but over all it's still a great concept!

Batteries


The $7,000 doesn't include the batteries which would have to be leased separately. Its a cool idea that the batteries are going to be a lease. I mean you know they are going to go bad and start taking less of a charge, so why not lease them and get new ones right away when it's time. The proof however is in the pudding. The question as to how cool the idea of leasing the batteries is how much they are going to cost! Time will tell at this point.

Short Range


So apparently for this vehicle, short range is going to mean 25 miles. Now depending on how far your daily work commute is this could really be great for you. If you are within 25 miles round trip (or one way if you can plug in at work) then you are now going to be able to buy a brand new electric vehicle for under $7,000 and it could really be your main car.

For me my daily round trip is more like 30 miles. That's more then the max even when the batteries are brand new. Since I don't have the option of plugging in at work this it's not going to work for my daily commute. I'm trying to think if I make enough around town trips to justify a $7,000 investment. I mean there are certainly trips to the store, or to friends houses that are within the 25 miles, I just am thinking there I don't do enough of that to make the $7,000 worth it. However, for $7,000 it might be cool enough and cheap enough to buy as a toy.

Top Speed


I've seen short range electric vehicles in the past and they seemed more like glorified golf carts. Their top speed was like 30 mph and you had to keep them on the back roads and away from highways. The great thing about this new short range vehicle is that has a realistic top speed. They are talking 74 mph! So you can go no the highway without any worry of getting run over by and 18 wheeler!

That makes the short daily work commute even more realistic. Lots of folks have short commutes, let's say 10 miles or less, but that does include a short trip on the highway. Which means unless you can get safely get up to 65 mph or more, it still isn't viable. But at 74 mph you are in business.