From the former lease holder of an electric Honda car...
i leased one of the first electric vehicles, the honda ev+, when i was
living in the san francisco bay area in the late nineties. it was an
amazing car--silent, extremely fast (90+ on freeway), air conditioning,
cd player, it talked, and it got about 120 miles on a charge, plenty
for any daily commute and trips to the ocean or mountains... during
that time period, california had incentives for businesses to install
electric charging stations, and there were chargers all over the bay
area at the b.a.r.t. light rail stations, libraries, malls, etc... i
loved my car, the only vehicle that i have really had an attachment to.
the electric company gave us discounted bulk eletricity rates for
charging at night after hours. i would just plug in when i got home,
and the smart charger would start charging later that night when the
rates were low. people started building solar photovoltaic electric
arrays over parking lots to have truly zero pollution solar charging...
there were user groups of people who leased these vehicles (you
couldn't buy them, only lease), and satisfaction was nearly 100%.
everyone i met who had leased or driven one loved them. but...they had
almost zero maintenance and so car companies couldn't get re-curring
revenue from parts and maintenance, and their corporate whore buddies
the oil companies couldn't get their blood money from re-curring
gas...so they killed the electric vehicle.
so, there you have it. the death of the electric vehicle had
nothing to do with technology or customer satisfaction (the lists were
long to be able to lease one of these) and everything to do with
corporate profit and greed.
From the former lease holder of an electric Honda car...
i leased one of the first electric vehicles, the honda ev+, when i was living in the san francisco bay area in the late nineties. it was an amazing car--silent, extremely fast (90+ on freeway), air conditioning, cd player, it talked, and it got about 120 miles on a charge, plenty for any daily commute and trips to the ocean or mountains... during that time period, california had incentives for businesses to install electric charging stations, and there were chargers all over the bay area at the b.a.r.t. light rail stations, libraries, malls, etc... i loved my car, the only vehicle that i have really had an attachment to. the electric company gave us discounted bulk eletricity rates for charging at night after hours. i would just plug in when i got home, and the smart charger would start charging later that night when the rates were low. people started building solar photovoltaic electric arrays over parking lots to have truly zero pollution solar charging...
there were user groups of people who leased these vehicles (you couldn't buy them, only lease), and satisfaction was nearly 100%. everyone i met who had leased or driven one loved them. but...they had almost zero maintenance and so car companies couldn't get re-curring revenue from parts and maintenance, and their corporate whore buddies the oil companies couldn't get their blood money from re-curring gas...so they killed the electric vehicle.
so, there you have it. the death of the electric vehicle had nothing to do with technology or customer satisfaction (the lists were long to be able to lease one of these) and everything to do with corporate profit and greed.