Electric Car?

I have been interested in buying an electric car for some time now. When I was in San Francisco in November 2008 I attended a new car show hoping to get some information on the Chevrolet Volt. I was disappointed, as they couldn’t tell me anything other than they expected the Volt to be out in 2010. See the Wikipedia article about the Volt. Now of course there is more information, but I’m not sure the Volt would be the best choice for me.

• For one thing it only has a range of 40 miles without a recharge or running  the 4-cylinder gas engine.

• Also I’m usually shy away from first year models, as they tend to have more bugs than established models.

• The 16kWh lithium-ion battery pack can be fully charged by plugging in to a 120-240VAC residential outlet.

• Assembled in: Hamtramck, United Kingdom and  Michigan, United States

• And of course there is the chance that GM won’t be around for long.

Now I am looking at the Phoenix Motorcars which will also be available in 2010. There are two models to choose from, an SUV and a SUT (sports utility truck). Some Phoenix Motorcar features:

• Unlike the Volt these are electric only cars, with a range of 100+ miles.

• On-board vehicle 6.6KW charger: 5 to 6 hours

• Off-board high-power 250KW charger: under 10 min. to 95% SOC

I added myself to their waiting list for a possible vehicle purchase. Of course I still need to work out some of the details with my wife.

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