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Environmental Headline News
Many of us have felt patronized by the auto industry over the past few decades, almost as though we have had to choose between style or economy, capacity or gas mileage, environment or bust. The headlines running for the 2010 automobile model release have changed recently, however, and those who have been clamoring for lowered emissions, harnessed electrical power, and less dependency on oil and gasoline, either foreign or domestic, may just have a reason to smile while motoring along. The pipedreams of the engineers and designers of the 2007 auto shows have just been given a violent shove into reality.
The electric concept car made environmental headline news in 2007, mostly because we were wondering, fervently, why Europe would see, drive, and own this car long before America would. Didn't we deserve the chance to see for ourselves, to choose this new technology over the 'dirty' cars that were being shoved down our throats by the automakers? What were we, chopped liver? Or was it that America was so selfish and demanding that we didn't want to give up our speed, our power, and the pure aggressiveness and hurried fashion that has become the fabric of our hectic lives?
Honestly, these questions have yet to be answered by the American public. The billions of dollars and tens of thousands of hours in labor and man-power are a gigantic risk for the auto manufacturers during this critical pressure point. The reason that Europe was to have this car first is that, yes, they definitely were going to purchase it in mass numbers. All factors point to the success and adoration of these amazing cars overseas, but here is the U.S., with the economy sliding and sloping and falling, the $30,000 price tag inherited by buyers of these vehicles might spell disaster for an already vulnerable carmaker.
All politics aside, this car is an environmental masterpiece. Playing on a full reversal of the standard gasoline engines currently driven, this car is powered by an enormous battery, with a very small gas engine that supplies power to the online generator. No gasoline power is converted to the drive train at all. The first 40 miles driven when this car is fully charged are given without one drop of gas. After this 40 mile mark, the little gas engine that could begins to distribute power to the generator, which charges the battery, which allows the car to offer up to 100 miles per gallon of gasoline. What's more, they are slick, stylish, and rather beautiful to look at.