Some People Are Disgusted by Efficient Little Cars

by Craig ShieldsPosted on March 6, 2010 Posted in Electric Vehicles

Re: my piece on changing attitudes to electric vehicles, guest blogger Arlene Allen writes:

I’ll roll with you on shifts in attitude. They are, however, notoriously difficult to predict. I don’t particularly give such a shift good odds when it comes to cars….I’m not yet a believer that people will come to embrace the little ducklings of our industry such as the original Insight, the Smart, i MiEV, etc. And even if such an event happens, there will be a general disgust rather than embrace…

You bring up a good point when you mention “disgust.”  I notice that some people sneer at drivers of clean little cars  — as if those of us who care about our world and the well-being of those around us are weak, pathetic, bleeding hearts.  It’s an interesting phenomenon.  And it will be more interesting to see how — or if — this dynamic changes over time. 

But speaking of dynamics, one thing that is evident to anyone who’s every driven an i-MiEV or a Mini E is that they perform like little rocketships.   The Mini E has a 200 HP motor (about the size of a basketball).  With maximum torque at zero RPM, the G-force when you hit the accelerator from a dead stop is absolutely ridiculous.  In my test-drives of both cars, I notice that this creates a kind of fun little dynamic in the minds of both drivers when my little EV blasts past a Corvette or a Porsche.