Electric Cars are the voice of the tree huggers as the cars have zero emission and their impact on the greeneries of this planet are minimal, at least very much lesser than the gas guzzling sports cars. Apart from being earth friendly, they are your pocket friendly too. If you use these cars for your daily commute they can cost as low as 3 cents per mile. The main problem of these cars has been their range, i.e. the miles that the cars can run on a single charge. This has been improved a lot and there are even some cars that promise to deliver a stellar 250 mile range. Here are some of our favorites in the electric car segment.
1. Chevy Volt
Who does not know this car by now? There are many people who are craving for this incredible piece of engineering. They can easily spend $40K on this car when it launches in December 2010. The car is expected to run 40 miles on battery power alone and it will continue to run afterwards using the gas delivering a mileage of around 50 MPG.
2. Nissan Leaf
You can charge this car from your home outlet of 220 Volts and this car will go 100 miles on a full charge overnight. It can reach a top speed of 90 mph from the 107 HP engine. Any information on its pricing is not available yet but we think that it will be available in before the end of this year.
3. Aptera 2e
You must have heard of Aptera if you have been giving a close look on the electric cars arena. Though their designed cars look some kind of weird, lemme tell you that they are for improving the efficiency of the car and not only for the show by any means. The cars will be priced around $20K - $40K depending on the options. They are expected to run around 100 – 120 miles on a single charge.
4. Plug in Toyota Prius
This is a bit of surprise from the house of Toyota. Though their Prius Hybrid model now suffered from many major recall events, we expect that their all electric models will do well when they are made available to the public. The Prius Plug-in is expected to be priced around $28K - $30K, about $8K more for the battery than the original Prius at $22K. The car can run almost 10 miles on charge of the battery alone. After the battery charge is drained out, it can run burning the gas.
5. ZAP Alias
The ZAP Alias will have a design like an alien spaceship. The car will be priced under $35K and is expected to deliver a run of over 100 miles on a single charge.
6. City ZENN
The car is powered by EEStor enery store that sounds like a game changer to many. The car will have a 5 minute recharge time with 250 miles on a charge range. The price of the car is not that much either. A $30K is worth the price if the car can deliver its promises.
7. Tesla Model S
This is another car for the upper middle class people with a family. The car will be priced around $60 K when it launches in late 2010s. But the money is worth spending as the car claims to have a stellar 240 miles on one charge promise. The Tesla Model S is a cheaper option to the eye grabber Tesla Roadster adding two doors and some room to the car to accommodate a family.
8. BMW Mini Electric Car
Though it is quite uncertain if there will be any of this models running in 2010 or any near future, but if it does, it will be one of the attention grabbers in 2010. With the 2009 Mini E limited lease models we thought that there will some standard versions very soon but till date there is no information about the price, release date or specification of the car.
9. Th!nk City
It is one of the most affordable electric cars available in the market. The straight up electric car can go a 110 miles on a single charge. The car is priced at around $25K and is currently available in the market. The car will also have a nice battery lease program that will cut down the upfront cost of the car. There is also no worry when the battery dies and you don’t need to spend a fortune on the battery.
10. Fisker Karma
Fisker is now one of the bigger players in the electric car market with their huge design center in Michigan. Their latest Karma model is of course built for the wealthy green car lovers as it is priced at around $87 K. It will be available for the public in the second half of 2010. The car can run a claimed 50 miles on the battery power alone. This translates to a total fuel economy of more than 100 MPG.
