Re: Electric Vehicles all over the WORLD

I've been commuting to work and dropping the girls off at school/daycare in a 10-year-old Twike (EV) for the past year in central Illinois.  Everyday, including a particularly nasty pothole-infested winter.  Put between 3-4,000 miles on it in the first year (daily commute/driving of 10-20 miles depending on errands and joy rides to newly-met friends .  It will go 30-40 miles per charge, is 5-600 pounds, and while I've had it up to around 60mph, it is a FAR more efficient vehicle at 18-22mph (bicycling speeds).... not to mention, safer!

With most US citizens traveling 50 miles or less a day, and most of those miles being single passenger (ie, the driver), the automanufactuers' determination to tell us that the battery tech isn't there, yada, yada, yada.  The battery tech ISN'T there for a 5-passenger EV.  Luckily most of us don't need a 5 passenger vehicle on a daily basis!  The problem is that the automanufactureres can't grasp this -- you can sell a LUXURY micro car EV, AND sell a LUXURY plug-in MiniVan BioDiesel compatible hybrid and corner the market.

The Twike runs on NiCads, which is pretty ancient as far as battery tech goes... and while not the most energy dense, pretty robust and rugged.

Now what I'll do once the almost-2-year-old doesn't fit in her old carseat anymore...