Toyota showed off this concept electric vehicle, the FT-EV today at the Detroit Auto Show. And while it's an adorable little micro-car concept that might never see the light of day, they used the opportunity to promise a pure electric vehicle by 2012.
Interestingly, they aren't the only ones. Ford also promised a (very similar) BEV by 2012, with the same market (urban dwellers) in mind. Toyota hinted at a 100 mile range, the same as Fords promised BEV, but it looks as if Ford will be delivering the vehicle in a more traditional casing.
The FT-EV is based on Toyota's iQ, a peppy little three-seater for young urbanites in Japan. It's Toyota's answer to the Smart Car, and the FT-EV, of course, is Toyota's answer to the electric Smart Car. Though, the Smart EV should beat Toyota to the punch by at least a year.
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written by bill, January 12, 2009
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written by Drew, January 12, 2009
Are you serious? For any alternative fuel vehicle to be successful it has to be able to effectively combat the decades and trillions of dollars of auto marketing spent convincing people that appearance and performance are more important than environmental sustainability.
There's a niche of people who buy cars using environmental criteria. To have an impact, they need to build environmentally superior vehicles that people who don't care about global warming will still buy.
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written by Elepski, January 12, 2009
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written by GreenJoyment, January 13, 2009
There's a niche of people who buy cars using environmental criteria. To have an impact, they need to build environmentally superior vehicles that people who don't care about global warming will still buy.
This is one of the most insightful comments I've heard about changes that need to happen in the auto industry for "green" vehicles to become mainstream. Well done Drew.
Jonathan
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written by mark, May 19, 2009
I agree that is currently the case - but if governments taxed in the externalities of the current status quo, people would stop caring what their cars looked like, and just be happy if they were well off enough to drive at all. If governments don't start taxing the externalities, mother nature will - but she'll probably be more harsh about it at that point.
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written by screen printing machine, November 17, 2009
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