Key “Driver” of the EV Adoption Curve: Superior Performance

In response to my piece: New Discovery in Hybrid-Electric Drivetrains, a reader notes: A few days ago, looking at AOL’s news clips, I found one about someone putting what looked like a small block V-8 into a 1968 Mustang fastback, but it was an electric motor. The performance of the car was totally insane: 0 – 60 in under three seconds.  American muscle cars with rear tires smoking kind of catches my attention. It will be interesting to see how long this evolution will take.

Well, that truly is part of the appeal of EVs: high torque at low RPMs.  Lots of people think of EVs as superized golf carts—until they take a test drive, and realize the stunning performance at their control.  As I wrote a few years ago:

I’ve driven a few high-performance sports cars in my day.  I never owned anything more powerful than my current (ancient) BMW 540i, but I drove several of the Maseratis of the 1990s, before their regrettable hiatus on importing them to the US.  Trust me, in terms of performance, the Tesla (0-60 in 3.7  seconds) that I test drove this afternoon is absolutely ridiculous.

I don’t have the chops for writing car reviews, so I won’t even try.  But the quality of the Tesla is impressive, and the torque is downright frightening.  Terry Ribb, 2Greenenergy Associate and lifelong friend who rode along with me, screamed like a schoolgirl with a frog down her back whenever I nailed the accelerator.  (The lady pictured above in the Model S in the “insane” mode appears calm and relaxed by comparison.)

Americans aren’t big on making sacrifices; fortunately, none is required in this arena.