crossposted from This Place Is Different.
The problem with electric cars is they’re ugly. Or impossibly expensive.
The reason why every fourth car in my neighborhood is a Prius? Consider the competition: The Volt, while nice looking, is like twenty thousand dollars more. The Nissan Leaf, no matter how cool the technology sounds, it looks like a broken toe crossed with an old couch.
For our second car, I’d like an electric, but why, God, are there so few electric cars that don’t look like crap? I want an electric coupe. How hard is that?! I want two doors, I want little. I hate hauling around three empty seats in my car when I drive.
But currently, our choices for a two-door electric car either look like stupid, tall jellybeans, or they look like bulbous, cryogenic freeze pods, or they look like a John Deere lawnmower wearing a poncho. Seriously, why would I drive what looks like a comma?
Or, on the other end of possibility, there’s a super-hot $96,000 Fisker Karma, a similarly awesome and expensive Tesla, and a cramazing Porsche that starts at $845,000 dollars. No shit. Starts at.
Really! How hard is it to give me a two door coupe that’s little, and low, and electric? I’m not asking for a spaceship Porsche. Yank out the powertrain and tank from a Honda Civic, Mitsubishi Eclipse, Toyota Yaris, or a Hyundai Veloster and throw in an electric motor and batteries. Seriously, Detroit, get your shit together and give me an electric Fiesta.
Old industries have such a hard time adjusting to the future. This is the story of our lives. And that of the dinosaurs.