Subaru R1e

Makes me think of some of the tiny cars I saw in Scotland last summer. Outside the U.S. the cars are not as humongous and bloated as they are here in the U.S.

The other thing I found interesting is the comments in the blog entry. They're talking about it as a great second car but then talking about it as if it's the car you use for the majority of your driving, because the majority of driving people do is around town and their daily commute. So if a car is used for the majority of your driving is it really a second car or a primary car?

- David Heron, http://davidherron.com/

They're talking about it as a great second car but then talking about it as if it's the car you use for the majority of your driving, because the majority of driving people do is around town and their daily commute. So if a car is used for the majority of your driving is it really a second car or a primary car?

Exactly.
It's so funny how quickly people talk down the usefulness of an EV. I must admit that before I started driving my EVT scooter, I was the same way. Now that I drive my Xebra 95% of the time, I get it (even though my Xebra doesn't have anywhere near the range that this car says it will have if it ever makes it to the public).
If I had an EV that had a 150 mile range, my diving would be more like 99.999999999% electric.

Mark Higley

They are here and they don't even know it.

Why do we need humongous amounts of steel (and other materials a car is consisting of) to drive four, two or even only one person.

I was thinking about this on my way to work this morning. In the U.S. the way I hear the conversation is to think about what happens when I get into a car accident. It's not an "if" you get into a car accident, but when. It's clear from traffic safety data that the people who survive car accidents tend to be the ones in the larger car. Those two together is putting "everyone" into a fear role, that they're all fearfilled about being in an accident and if they're unprotected in a little tin-can car like the one you pictured they're gonna die.

Expectation = "car accident", and that it's someone else who determines whether you're going to be in a car accident. Therefore since you cannot control when your car accident(s) will be you'd better be prepared with the beefiest car you can find.

I think I see it differently ... Speaking for myself... with vast direct experience from 20-30 car accidents of all sorts ... the main contributing factor to creating a car accident is that someone wasn't paying attention.

Over the past four+ years I've been, as much as possible, riding electric scooters, electric bicycles, and motorcycles, kinda the exact opposite of the "be prepared with the beefiest car you can find" attitude. I've had lots of time to think about the choice of riding on an unprotected vehicle like a bicycle, or going for the most protected car you can find. And I think what they taught me in the motorcycle safety class is so completely "right on".

Now when I drive/ride I practice paying attention. I figger if nobody else is paying attention, at least I can pay attention, and through paying attention have a better chance of avoiding the others. But ideally if we all paid more attention as we drove then the road experience would be much much safer. That's basically the message they had in the motorcycle safety class.

- David Heron, http://davidherron.com/

Second car does not mean secondary car. If they have one car and they buy another, the other car is by definition the second car, even if they drive it the most.

In other words, the electric car is a great daily driver but it can't fully replace one's previous car (for long trips, specifically), so they should keep their previous car. Thus they'll have two cars.

Maker of the Ex-Volt1500 and Ex-Volt1500z

if they made the WRx into a electric i would get one, those cars are very safe!

If the EV is the primary car for around town travel, why have a "second" car at all?

Get an a account with a local rent-a-car and rent a car for the occasional out-of-town trip. Considering all the costs of owning a car, the economics are quite favorable for most people.

Also consider the environmental impact - a typical new car has already emitted 15-20,000 miles worth of greenhouse gases from it's materials and manufacturing before it's been driven it's first mile...

My wife would kill me?
I'm there. I do 98% of my travel in my Xebra, no gas, totally electric. I think about where I am going and plan my day accordingly. My wife on the other hand, does not. She's coming along, but if I told her all we were going to own was EVs, I would be living in my electric truck.

Mark Higley

They are here and they don't even know it.

2 quick points:

So many people are blind to the True Cost to Own (TCO) as calculated at Edmunds.com

Flexcar or a similar program.. If you live in a city that has something like this, it's a no-brainer for your "second" car. You can do it by the hour or by the day. SUV when you want it. Pickup truck when you want it. Minivan when you want it. Your EV the rest of the time.

My 2 watts worth,

1. The Flexcar idea is a good one but it forgets one very important item. An Automobile is a very personal item to most Americans and we have a selfish streak that keeps us from sharing something personal. I have rented plenty of autos in my life because of my career choices, Field service engineer for about 20 years. Renting a car on a trip is fine but I would have a problem renting a car every time I needed to pull my boat and or go camping. So for me I would need to own at least one vehicle with these capabilities, pull a 17 foot bass boat and hall 2 tons of what ever. I also have a pickup truck which I use to haul the 2 tons of whatever. It is a 1989 Silverado with only 80,xxx miles on it. This truck was bought new by my father for our farm and we have used it from 1989 till now, 17 mpg not good. I use my mini van to pull my boat at 27 mpg. My main auto is a Pontiac Sunfire, 38 mpg. Yes that's too many cars but let us not forget the 2 Pontiac Trans Ams. A 91 and a 76. Both very fast, both sit in the barn a lot.

2. My requirements for an electric vehicle have not been met at this time. At least not one I can afford. I need an EV with a minimum speed of 60 mph and a range of 50 miles, solid, at an average speed of 45 mph in a hilly environment. I could deal with a small 2 seater auto. As a matter of fact I would prefer this size.

Chas S.
My Bicycle Pages

i tend to agree with the hiring side of things.

Registration alone in australia costs $570, if you can hire a decent car for $100 then that gives 5 long trips a year. that doesn't include insurance costs either.

a very good way to go.

I think where flexcar would win is in urban areas, and for uses other than hauling boats to the lake. For instance one variant of flexcar which I think is interesting is "Station Car", where an agency at a commuter rail station has cars at the station you can rent for short jaunts from the train station.

Also, in several European cities there is a "flex bicycle" program, where there are kiosks scattered around the city with bicycles you can rent. The bikes are locked to a post, and there is a kiosk nearby where you can insert money to rent the bicycle, and the rental fees go to pay for maintenance on the bikes. The articles I've read on the program make it sound like it's popular with the people of these cities. I was in Brussels in Feb, saw some of these bicycles, saw them in use being ridden around, etc. Looked like a well run program to me. And also it looked like you could make an electric bicycle system with these bikes pretty easily, just make sure the locking mechanism includes a charger port to keep the batteries topped up.

- David Herron, http://davidherron.com/