Where can I buy a 100% electric car?

Question

Gas prices are almost to $4.00 per gallon and I need a good, inexpensive car to get around town / commute. Where can I buy one and which company is the best?

Answer 1

Your best bet is eBay - http://www.motors.ebay.com and type "Electric" or "EV' in the search terms box.

The problem is that any electric vehicle at this time cannot be inexpensive because of the technology and/or batteries cost.

The oil industry surely has us by the short and curlies.

Answer 2

You can buy a Zenn.  It can go up to 50 miles on a charge (Zenn says between 30 and 50), and go 25 mph.  I'm suggesting this instead of the Zap Xebra because it doesn't look goofy.  But if you don't mind looking goofy, you can go 40 MPH in a Xebra.

Where can you buy one?  Well, you have to put in a zip code to find your nearest retailer, and you haven't included that, so I'll let you do that by yourself.  There's a little black box on the front page of the website (listed in the Sources), that says "Want one?".

Answer 3

There is currently no 100% electric car but Chevy has issued 100 test cars which are electric which will hopefully soon get to releasing more.

Answer 4

I don't know, but I can tell you how to find out.  If you can find a book "Solo-life with an electric car", you will find addresses in the back.  Also there is a club in Seattle WA that converts VW rabbits and old Beatles to electric.  To make such a conversion costs about $6, 000.oo.  With four batteries the range is about thirty miles--with eight batteries, you get about fifty miles.   You can get better, lighter batteries, but the cost is, like, really really ouch!!!.  For the money, you can buy a lot of gasoline for six grand!!

You might want to think about a motorcycle.  Even a big, old Hawg will give you about fifty miles to the gallon.  A smaller bike will do better.  Wear a helmet and drive like everyone is out to get you (some people are).  Buy good tools and learn to repear it yourself.  A small car might do well for you.  Look for good mileage (you'll pay more for repears).

Whatever you decide, do lots and lots of research first.  Make sure you have enough money saved up to complete the project.  (A half-built car in the garage doesn't do you much good!)  And may the Creator smile upon you.

Answer 5

Nobody sells one yet.  Tesla says they will soon but its gonna be about $100k and all the cars are sold if they build it.  That much cash would by a lifetime of gas for something like a $50k Vette.

Dana - Top speed 40 mph and a 25 mile range.  How about something thats actually useful?

Answer 6

consider doing a conversion. do some research, and check out the following sites.

Answer 7

There have been many fully electric cars made in the past, but none have been commercially succesful. eBay has quite a few cars that have been converted (some very professionally, some look questionable) Follow these steps:1. Go to ebay.com/motors 2. Click "Cars & Trucks" right under "Motors" 3. On the left side, under "More Options" click "Fuel Type" and select electric. There are several of them as of my writing this.

Answer 8

dana nailed it as far as electric cars go

not electric but still a break from high gas prices....

head to india pick up two air cars. (one for me for telling you. plus they are only like $5000 anyway). and enjoy filling up your car with approximately $2 worth of compressed air from a gas station with about 125 mile range.

unfortunately the top speed is only about 68mph so it barely hits highway speed but with gas $4/gallon and rising i dont care(plus with advancements in technology im sure they'll get faster)

Answer 9

Currently the best is the ZAP Xebra.

http://www.zapworld.com/electric-vehicle...

http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/080418/0388122.h...

But there will be several much better ones becoming available in the next year or two.

Available in California in October 2008, the Aptera typ-1e will cost about $27,000 with a top speed of 95 mph and range of 120 miles per charge.

http://www.aptera.com/details.php

Soon thereafter Aptera will introduce the typ-1h, a plug-in hybrid version of the typ-1e with a 40-60 mile range on purely electrical energy, and a range of over 600 miles total when in electric/gas hybrid mode, for around $30,000.  On a 120 mile trip, the typ-1h will get 300 miles per gallon.  The shorter the trip, the higher the efficiency.

http://www.aptera.com/details.php

Available in late 2009, the ZAP Alias will cost $30,000, have a top speed of 100 mph, and a range of 100 miles per charge.

http://zapworld.com/electric-vehicles/el...

Soon thereafter the ZAP-X will be available at a cost of $60,000 with a top speed of 155 mph and a range of 350 miles per charge.

http://zapworld.com/electric-vehicles/el...

Available in 2009, the Miles Javlon will cost $30-35,000 with a top speed of 80 mph and a range of 120 miles per charge.

http://www.milesev.com/index.asp#hsv.swf

Phoenix Motorcars will start selling their SUT to individuals in late 2008 or early 2009.  It will cost $45,000 and have a top speed of 100 mph with a range of 100+ miles per charge.

http://phoenixmotorcars.com/

Available in Fall 2009, the cityZenn will have a top speed of 80 mph and range of 250 miles per charge.  No price has yet been established.

http://www.zenncars.com/  

http://www.zenncars.com/media/documents/...

EV finder is another useful site.

http://evfinder.com/

Answer 10

All-electrics aren't really ready for prime time yet - the Tesla sedan won't be $100,000 but it's still going to be impractically expensive.  Dinky electrics like Zap's are not quite there either... they're glorified golf carts.  

You'll be much happier with a super-high mileage gasoline vehicle.  The "Smart Car" is probably the most fuel-efficient you could get -- if you don't mind driving what looks like a souped-up golf cart.  (It'll do highway speed, which I would find scary.)  Perfect for schlepping to the office, and picking up a bag or two of groceries, but it can't do much more than that.

If you need something with a bit more room, I'd go with the Toyota Prius or Honda Civic hybrid.  If you buy early in the year you can get a tax break, then drive them conservatively and you can get 40-50 mpg.  If those are too expensive, the Honda Fit is probably your best bet: it's a very well-engineered and cute little car.  Whatever you drive, try to car-pool - that cuts the price in half right there!