The Problem With Electric Cars

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.