RideLust

*Photo Credit: cars-wallpapers.net

Aside from the Tesla Roadster most electric cars are about as exciting as a piece of dry toast. Bland styling is generally overlooked by the fact that the cars are good for the environment and supposedly make you feel good. The environment part I agree with, but the feel good part, well… that’s questionable in my opinion. Sales of new EV’s are off to a slow start this year which is partly due to a lack of usable recharging stations outside of the owners home. Combine that with the fact that range figures are still low and you can see why people are hesitant to buy these cars. Keep in mind that we also have extended range vehicles like the Chevrolet Volt. These are electric cars that use a gas generator to keep the batteries in a constant state of charge. Vehicles like this are a great compromise for those looking to be environmentally friendly, but need the range of a conventional petrol driven engine.

I was poking around the net when I came across this Mazda Miata based EV called, The Himiko. Built by Mitsouka Motors of Japan, the Himiko is proof that electric and extended range vehicles can in fact be good to look at. Built on an MX-5 platform and taking styling queues from Morgan, the Himiko utilizes 168 Lithium batteries and a 2.0-liter DOHC inline 4-cylinder that allows for a range of up to 341 miles. Right now the car is only slated to be sold in Japan with pricing that has yet to be announced. However if the cars performance matches it’s great range cars like the Tesla Roadster may have something to worry about.

Source: Inhabitat.com