Gliders versus Economy Electrical Cars
Gliders versus Economy Electrical Cars
The comment below is from Erin Shipp, who has worked for large car companies. His comments about electrifying the bodies of small conventional cars is a concept that has also been referred to as gliders. Such gliders are probably the real competition for a small neighborhood electrical car. If a glider were sold only slightly more expensively than the small electric, customers would likely opt for the beefier and higher performance vehicles.
I agree that a more minimalist approach is justified. So far the electric cars shown have either been microcars that have never been accepted, higher end like Tesla and Fisker, or 3 wheelers to avoid safety requirments. The greatest impact would be to sell to the lower end of the market where older, more polluting, lower fuel economy vehicles would be replaced.
My concept was to convert existing vehicles to electric or extended range electric. This could be done with a retail price of $25k to $35k. But no one would pay that much for a vehicle that is used and not brand new. the government will subsidize it to about $7500, but to be competitive the cost must be even lower.
One solution is to sell the cars to a non-profit distributor. This non profit would get environmental and poverty grants to help low income people buy the car. This could bring the cost to $12k to $22K which with the savings on operating costs could make it very attractive by bringing the cost of a car payment plus electricity to be in line with a normal car payment.
The first car would be a PT cruiser which is cheap and plentiful. This would be followed by a mini-van that has an extended range generator, and finally a Jeep.
The comment below is from Erin Shipp, who has worked for large car companies. His comments about electrifying the bodies of small conventional cars is a concept that has also been referred to as gliders. Such gliders are probably the real competition for a small neighborhood electrical car. If a glider were sold only slightly more expensively than the small electric, customers would likely opt for the beefier and higher performance vehicles.
I agree that a more minimalist approach is justified. So far the electric cars shown have either been microcars that have never been accepted, higher end like Tesla and Fisker, or 3 wheelers to avoid safety requirments. The greatest impact would be to sell to the lower end of the market where older, more polluting, lower fuel economy vehicles would be replaced.
My concept was to convert existing vehicles to electric or extended range electric. This could be done with a retail price of $25k to $35k. But no one would pay that much for a vehicle that is used and not brand new. the government will subsidize it to about $7500, but to be competitive the cost must be even lower.
One solution is to sell the cars to a non-profit distributor. This non profit would get environmental and poverty grants to help low income people buy the car. This could bring the cost to $12k to $22K which with the savings on operating costs could make it very attractive by bringing the cost of a car payment plus electricity to be in line with a normal car payment.
The first car would be a PT cruiser which is cheap and plentiful. This would be followed by a mini-van that has an extended range generator, and finally a Jeep.
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