Just came across this organization and think they have an interesting idea: http://www.vehiclelink.org/
The idea is to redesign the vehicle classification system in the U.S. to allow a class of light vehicles to fall under the same regulations as motorcycles.
I think this would apply to EV's pretty well -- such as the Xebra, Triac, Aptera, etc. The Xebra anyway has sold well over 1000 EV's and is a medium speed EV with light weight and apparently does a great job of around town driving. But it's been a bit controversial with some states in the U.S. having a hard time with their regulations and allowing it to be registered.
Seems some of us have had troubles getting electric vehicles registered in some U.S. states.
Of course the above is U.S. centric and the rules are different in other countries. For example I've heard in England there is a 'Quadricycle' category, four wheels, light weight, apparently fewer regulations, but I don't know much about it.
On the http://dannyscontentment.net/ podcast a few episodes back Danny mentioned this Quadricycle word as if it's a matter of course that a vehicle buyer who wants to be riskier will freely buy one, and vehicle buyers who want extra safety assurance will buy a "regular vehicle" that's gone through the rigorous testing.
But in the U.S. our only choice is either four wheels and rigorous testing, or two/three wheels and little safety testing and the assumption from everybody else that you're a lunatic.
