Wayland's 350Mile per Charge Honda Insight BEV

tomofreno said:

They aren't marketing to you, or ev enthusiasts in general. They are targeting the general public, and to many of them more vehicle mass is a good thing as it is perceived as safer. Many of the public also care more about how many kids, dogs, and groceries they can fit than they do about Cd. You can give them what they want or try to take on the job of educating them, which generally gives low ROI I think. So far manufacturers have added electric motors mainly to give more power and improved acceleration in the kinds of vehicles they know sell, since they know increased performance also sells, and increased mileage isn't as much an issue until gas prices go up over $4.00/gal. I drive a little electric Swift and think it works fine for most of my driving, but that is not what many of the public think, and if you want to sell in high volume to get costs down as you said, you have to target the majority of the public. I think when gas prices go much higher, there will be more interest the the type of vehicle you described, and once the manufacturers see the market is there, they will start building them.

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^^^Pretty much everything he said.^^^

I think there will be more and more electric vehicles, in all the differing configurations, but the goal of the manufacturers (at least at this point) isn't to build the ultimate BEV, pure, electric car. The latest round of them proves this point - they're trying to make them more conventional, or at least more conventional appearing. Nissan even designed the motor bay of the Leaf to look like a traditional engine bay - on an economy car! That really speaks volumes about where their focus is. If you really think about what the companies exist for, you have to agree it's a smart move. They're publicly owned and traded companies, which means their primary focus is value for the shareholders (owners). The vehicles are a means of generating it. Maximum value dictates over all, not maximum benefit. Maximum benefit is a sales pitch.

As for Wayland's project: it's very important, even if the average person doesn't connect with it on a personal level. It's a halo car, just like a Corvette, a Viper, or a Tesla Roadster. Every person I have mentioned vehicles like WZ to seems more convinced with the potential and viability of EVs in general. I can't wait to be able to say this guy has a little Datsun that runs 9s, and an Insight that goes 350 miles! I can hear the "wow, I didn't know they could do that" replies now! Accomplishments like that help people believe in the technology. That is a huge battle in itself. I remember when using adhesives to put cars together was first mentioned - instant fear reaction, even though NASA was using it to build space vehicles!