I wish automakers were able to/would actually import some of their cheaper electric vehicles from east asian markets.
The Honda N-Van e would suit the needs of the vast majority of people. 124mi of range and only ~$8,000.
i would love them here, too… but kei cars would not fair well on u.s. roads vs all the heavy, oversized pickups and suv.
they would also not be nearly as economical, in terms of purchase cost or efficiency, when built for the u.s. market.
It wouldn’t meet the safety standards. A substantial portion of the cost in a modern vehicle is the safety systems and then the emissions systems.
It wouldn’t meet the safety standards.
This may partly be because basically all of them are legal for highway use, so even if all you need is a car that is safe to drive a couple of miles to the grocery store at 35MPH, the safety features and engines (and thus emissions system capabilities) have to be designed with the expectation that the vehicle will be used at 80MPH beside all the other vehicles out there.
It might help to have a wider variety of vehicle licensing options to allow for low-speed, lower-spec ‘city cars’. Though enforcement would probably be an issue, and the safety standards would still need to be robust enough that people in small cars wouldn’t be too badly killed by the gigantic pickup trucks they have to share the road with.
Only 124mi? Isn’t that like the average American’s commute to work one-way?
