We've bringing exciting news - in the most recent cases, from the Tokyo Motor Show preview series - about major automakers that are bringing out all-electric concepts. Last week, for example, we learned about the very practical Subaru G4e. Back at the Frankfurt Motor Show, Nissan announced it will bring an EV to market based on the Mixim concept. Big companies making sensible, small EVs. Good news all around, right? Not quite, says C-NET.
Michael Kanellos wonders out loud if cars like the G4e (should it get produced) might not be the death knell for all of the other electric cars we talk about on AutoblogGreen, you know, the cars from smaller companies like Miles and Zenn and Tesla. He writes:
Still, the bad news for Think, Miles, Zap, and even companies noodling toward sedans like Tesla, is that the big manufacturers are interested. There's more to making electric cars than designing batteries. It also involves building huge, expensive factories, setting up a dealer network, and getting volume discounts on things like plastic electric window switches. These are the kinds of logistical problems that big manufacturers have down cold--and that start-ups will have trouble matching.
Kanellos goes on to talk about crash testing (something we just found video of, in Tesla's case), and that customers will feel safer in a Subaru EV than a Miles EV. Point taken. But if that Subaru never gets built, then Miles et al. win. If it does, though ...
[Source: C-NET]
Michael Kanellos wonders out loud if cars like the G4e (should it get produced) might not be the death knell for all of the other electric cars we talk about on AutoblogGreen, you know, the cars from smaller companies like Miles and Zenn and Tesla. He writes:
Still, the bad news for Think, Miles, Zap, and even companies noodling toward sedans like Tesla, is that the big manufacturers are interested. There's more to making electric cars than designing batteries. It also involves building huge, expensive factories, setting up a dealer network, and getting volume discounts on things like plastic electric window switches. These are the kinds of logistical problems that big manufacturers have down cold--and that start-ups will have trouble matching.
Kanellos goes on to talk about crash testing (something we just found video of, in Tesla's case), and that customers will feel safer in a Subaru EV than a Miles EV. Point taken. But if that Subaru never gets built, then Miles et al. win. If it does, though ...
[Source: C-NET]
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