Why won't car manufacturers like nissan or toyota create an all electric car?

Question

I imagine an all electric car would be a big hit at this point, with gas prices about to hit $4 a gallon. We have cars like the tesla, and venturi fetish, which are all electric, and cost less than $.02 a mile, but are still able to go 0-60 in under 4 seconds. Why do electric cars have to be performance like this? Can we not have a consumer electric car that looks like a normal civic or camry with this same or better efficiency for around the same price as it's fuel counterpart?

It seems obvious that this could be a major market, but why has toyota or some other car manufactuer jumped on the opportunity yet. After toyota realized the success that is the prius, they shoulod know what consumers want (a car that is cheap to operate, and isn't insanely ugly, but still affordable), an electric car fits this perfectly. The original ev1's from GM costed less than a prius, and they were hand assembled.

Please share you opinions on this stance.

Answer 1

Lets have it dent and scratch proof to. the technology exist .As always it`s all about money.

Answer 2

toyota has built one in the past remember that small piece of garbage

Answer 3

Every major car manufacturer has a new electric conception car produced every year. There are still too many problems with them. The charge doesn't last long enough, the car doesn't go fast enough, it weighs too much, it takes too long to charge the batteries, etc. Technology hasn't caught up with the demand for the electric car yet.

Answer 4

the original EV 1 s cost over 100,000 dollars each and that was 15 years ago when money was worth something...car companys are in biz to make money...if they could sell electrict cars they would.. btw...toyota is having trouble selling hybreds at a prophet...they have not made a penny [yen] on the hybred...why would they risk a money making biz on electricts?

Answer 5

Simple.  There's no demand for it.  Companies do what they do for one basic reason, and one reason only; money.  They exist to make money.  That's why they are a company.  If they don't see a demand for a product, they determine it will not be successful, therefore, do not produce it.  The fact is people are still buying automobiles with internal combustion engines because they offer the highest reliability, cheapest maintenance, longest estimated life span, most power . . .    Electric cars were toyed with about 20 years ago, but failed because they didn't sell.  They cost too much, didn't last long enough on one charge and overall, couldn't do what a car did with a standard gasoline engine.   They could become popular with more modern technology if they can compete with what a traditional car can do, but as for the next 20 years for seeing them become mainstream, don't hold your breath.

Answer 6

Well, it's really simple when you think about it. Oil companies would be loosing out on billions of dollars in profits. It's sad, but we could all have been driving electric cars 30 years ago if we wanted to.

Answer 7

"The original ev1's from GM costed less than a prius, and they were hand assembled."

You are right, but don't worry, the ev1 is still around under its new name: Think City. This car is even better than the original, running 90 mph and with a range of 110 miles!

And the fun thing is that the Think City can be ordered over the internet and is delivered to your home.

Answer 8

They're working on it.  The first step was to make gas/electric hybrids.  The next step after that is to make plug-in electric hybrids.  Toyota is working on a plug-in Prius due out in the next year, GM is working on the Chevy Volt, Ford is working on plug-ins, etc.

The final step after that is to make fully electric cars.  Mitsubishi is already working on one - the i MiEV.

http://greenhome.huddler.com/products/mi...

Dodge has also revealed an EV concept car that they're working on - the Zeo.

http://greenhome.huddler.com/forum/threa...

And there are also many small companies which will soon be delivering EVs.

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

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

http://www.milesev.com/

http://phoenixmotorcars.com/

http://greenhome.huddler.com/products/ze...

Answer 9

Because they know it would be a money losing proposition.  Electric cars will never be more than expensive toys until they can match the performance of conventionally fueled cars at the same price.

Answer 10

Why won't they?  They are... actually.

Nissan's working on the "Denki" (Japanese for 'Cube').  It'll be boxy, like a Scion xB, or a Honda Element, go 100 miles on a charge, and be able to go 75 mph.

Mitsubishi wants to release their i-MiEV in 2009 or 2010.  Its shape is sort of like a Chevy Aveo.  The range is between 99 and 106 miles, and it can go 80 mph.

And Subaru has their R1e, with a similar shape to the i-MiEV, a range of 50 miles, and a top speed of 65 mph.

American car companies?  Yeah, good luck getting them to make an all-electric vehicle (again).

Answer 11

First, oil companies have them by the balls!, second, they won't make any money, because EV cars hardly ever need maintenance and gas, which is good for us, bad for them. Anyway car manufacturers like nissan or toyota have conflict of interests.  Sure they can produce cars which will last longer than you want, require no expensive service and no gasoline.  You want such a car, but the manufacturers want to make sure they keep getting steady income from far more profitable SUV sales. EVs are so good that they require none of that stuff, so you'd pay very little to nothing for your car maintenance and your personal "gas station" is as far as the nearest electrical outlet. They afraid of EVs,they try very hard (and unfortunately succeeding) to convince you that no one wants electric cars. They can make EVs if forced by law but at first opportunity they destroy perfectly normal EVs (sad GM's EV1 story). Hard to believe? Yes, this is unfortunate but well documented fact. Despite long waiting lists, they try to convince you there was no demand. EV1's of course were never advertized. Simple truth is, they never offered EV1's for sale to the general public precisely because they knew there was demand. If they would offer EV1's, the public would demand more, GM would be pressured to work against their business interest, so they simply decided to only lease the vehicles putting such lease conditions that very few would qualify, which is "proof" no one wanted EV1's.

Can an EV run far? Well, if an EV could run more than 340 miles on a single charge 10 years ago, you'd think that today technology can be only better, especially if part of the money going into FC research would be spent advancing EV batteries. Can it run fast? Is about 300 mph fast enough for you? Can it be quick? How does 0-60 mph in 3.6 seconds sound? So what's the problem? Like to admit it or not, it is only... MONEY!

Answer 12

Toyota used to make the RAV4ev http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/05/...

Kerb side recharge points are simple to provide http://www.batteryvehiclesociety.org.uk/... Imagine when petrol cars arrived, no-one had a petrol station nearby; and that was/is a much more complex infrastructure than some cabling. Smart chargers will allow charging at times of low demand & selling back at peak periods, or if there is a supply failure, http://www.acpropulsion.com/technology/v... so optimising the grid & being worthwhile for the electric suppliers to invest in.

Electric cars are simpler to make, many fewer and less complicated parts, so should be much cheaper to mass produce. At the moment they are only made in small numbers.

for available vehicles see http://www.batteryvehiclesociety.org.uk/...

or www.evuk.co.uk

Answer 13

GM is said to be working on a number of alternative fuel vehicles with the first big launch looking to be the Chevy Volt late 2010 on the Delta II platform.  Looks pretty sharp from the concept car pics I've seen.  I have heard of a H fueled vehicle in the works as well, but I think they switched focus to the Volt.

Toyota is also rumored to have a plug-in vehichle in the same timeframe, but I'm not sure what platform they are going with though.

Answer 14

Most of us don't have a place to recharge them.  Electric cars are only practical if you have a garage.  Also, they aren't practical for long roadtrips for the same reason.  If you really want people to switch to electric cars, have the federal government pass a law that ALL parking spaces must have a high power electrical outlet.