I'll get involved and put a tenner down that that car won't even get made in 2009. A prototype might appear but it won't be sold. I hope it does though. Like you say, it looks good and if it does what they say it does and people actually buy it could kick start thing. I just don't think it will happen.
The Lightening car, like Ian said, needs a 3 phase power supply to achieve a 10 minute charge (overnight charge for most people). Plus their website can't even tell you when it will be available, not very inspiring!
The Electric Mini, 500 will be made, all to California and all leased (similar to the Honda FCX deal). That effectively means they are too expensive (or to risky) to sell. Plus California has a mandate in place forcing manufacturers to make some ZEV's (zero emission vehicle) by 2014.
I've already said there are plenty of ZEV vehicles knocking about that take an overnight charge and do between 40-80miles. But they don't sell because thats not what people want.
Chris, take a look at the GM Volt. Thats about the level the public are ready for. You get 40miles to a charge then the petrol engine starts and runs a generator which powers the electric motor and charges the battery. Its called a range extender. This allows short journey commuters to run electric most of the time and when they want to run a long journey they can.
Thanks for continuing to prove your naivity over battery and vehicle technology though.
(Incidently I've driven a G-Wiz, how cool am I!)
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