[Jeff]

Gas prices are outrageous. I am looking at selling my SUV (dumb purchase) and getting something electric. I did some searching around, and I came across this site which has a lot of info:

http://www.electric-bikes.com

Basically, my criteria for an electric vehicle is this:

It can hold more than one person.
It is under 10 grand USD.
It is street legal.

Again, I am looking to totally replace my car. These neighborhood electric vehicles/low speed vehicles look promising and pretty much what I'm looking for, but they get a bit pricey. This was probably my favorite out of all I looked at:

http://www.itiselectric.com/

I did a little searching around, and their cars start at around $14,000. I'm not quite sure where to look from here. Suggestions?

 

[bpd111]

Your looking to make a change is a smart one. As a nation, we are clearly going to have to make some changes--apparently sooner than later. I think it might be a mistake trying to sell your SUV now. I'm afraid you're going to take a beating (especially if you owe money on it).

The car companies are creating hybrid vehicles--slowly. Power corporations are looking to hydrogen power with it's only by-product being water. But all this is taking too much time. The terrible situation in the Gulf Coast and $4 are going to help move us along. I hope.

 

[Jeff]

I got a pretty good deal on my SUV, so I should be able to sell it with little or no loss -- at least enough to cover what I still owe on it.

The problem with hybrids is that they are expensive. They are available, no doubt, but the only cars I can afford are used cars in the sub-$10k range. I know in time used hybrids will be available at a reasonable price, but as you mentioned, this country needs to make some changes sooner than later. And not everyone can afford a $15k - $20k Prius. I really want and need to make a change, but I'm quickly running out of ideas. Totally giving up on a vehicle sadly isn't an option for me, otherwise I would do it.

 

[darren wilson]

Just two days ago, my wife and i put a deposit on a smart fortwo coupé. (Gas prices here have jumped 25% since Tuesday.) It's too bad these won't be coming to the U.S., because they're really great little cars, and they get 60+ mpg. Now if only we could get wider distribution of biodiesel!

 

[Jemmm]

We in Europe have long tradition of riding fuel economic 4 cylinder cars. What I'm trying to point out is......going from SUV to small electric maybe bit of a big step.

Looked at something fuel economic from Europe or Japan.

And gas prices will go down again. This is just all greed and market hype.
Good old capitalism at work.

Real oil shortages and problems are not due to appear till around 2011-12. At least at that time gloval demand is going to outrun the available production levels.

So yeah, you have few more years of having gasoline fun.

Friend of mine just bought $150.000 Porsche will reasoning that it will be the last great car he would be able to buy. Better have some fun while it lasts so to say.

 

[dex]

Jemmm is right - you guys need to start lobbying VW/Toyota/Ford/Honda, etc to start selling the likes of VW Lupo, VW Polo, Toyota Yaris, Ford Ka, Ford Fiesta, Honda Jazz and so on....
These cars are massive here in Europe and we don't even comute that much.

Obvously in North America you don't even have 1/2 the choice of small cars we do.
Toyota Yaris
Honda Jazz
VW Lupo
VW Polo
Ford Ka
Ford Fiesta
Ford Fusion
Renault Clio
Renault Modus
Fiat Panda
Fiat Punto
Fiat Idea
Peugeot 106
Peugeot 206
Opel Corsa
Opel Agila
Opel Meriva
Nissan Micra
Daewoo Matiz
Suzuki Swift
Mitsubishi Colt
Seat Arosa
Citroen C2

plus a whole bunch of Korean cars priced in the same niche..
Also most people here in Europe seem to think that Ford Focus sized car is all you need for transportation, that is unless you make a lot of money or have a large family.

This is why I was telling Darren in another thread that when the same money buys you a real 4 seat car here in Europe the Smart thing is really more of a gimmick/novelty and not taken seriously by most people.

Moving to electric vehicle is too much of a jump - just get a Focus or a Civic and lobby your local government to encourage the local car dealers to import small/cheap/economical cars.

ilia

 

[pawel]

I noticed that the Toyota Echo (basically a Yaris sedan, although they make a hatchback version too) is very popular in Canada, which is a good sign. I am not sure about the US.

 

[Jeff]

I am curious as to why everyone is saying jumping to an electric vehicle is too much. Perhaps I didn't give enough information originally. I live in a small town (about 20,000 people) in Wester Kansas in the US. It is primarily an agricultural area, so most people like driving trucks and SUVs even if they don't really need them. Small cars are really hard to find. Anyways, I rarely ever travel outside the town, and if I do, it's always with friends who have their own vehicles I can travel in. I basically travel to and from school, and when I get another job, to and from work. In a given day, I travel about 5 - 10 miles for the entire day. I don't go on any highways or freeways to get anywhere...the highest speed limit of any road I go on is 35mph. With this in mind, I think an electric car would be quite do-able for me, but maybe I'm forgetting something.

Getting a diesel car is something I also considered. We even have a station or two here that pumps biodiesel. However, as you can imagine, cars that can take biodiesel are too new/too expensive and not really available in my area.

I also have a 1987 Honda Civic hatchback. This is a little car that gets decent gas mileage, but it's old, has a LOT of miles, and needs a bit of work. I'm also afraid to drive it because of it possibly breaking down at any moment. I could pump some money into it fixing it up, but it would be like polishing a turd.