I was walking to the deli in the office building next to mine (actually it’s a sushi/teriyaki shop: this is California!) when I saw a sporty – dare I say sexy – gold shape out of the corner of my eye. Here in the north San Diego suburbs, Jags and even Maseratis are not uncommon, but that’s not what this was.
It was an actual, honest to goodness Fisker Karma, the only one I’ve ever seen. Only about 2400 Karmas were built in 2011 and 2012 before Fisker went bankrupt. A Chinese company bought them and claims that they will reintroduce the Karma in 2015. We’ll see; I have my doubts. But it made me wonder, will the Karma ever be a Classic? Will any electric car?
Solar panels – presumably for ventilation, not motivation.
I do see a few possible eCC’s every day in my office parking lot. This is after all coastal Southern California, the land of Conspicuous Conservation™. No surprise, there are Priuses (Prii?) of all types, from a 1st generation sedan to several more recent hatches and even a Prius V wagon. They’re so common here (best selling car in California) that I didn’t even think to take a picture.
Slightly more interesting than the Priuses is the resident pair of Volts. (As American-brand cars, they’d be unusual here even if they weren’t (usually) series hybrids.)
Volt 1 – white
Volt 2 – silver. Interesting cars, boring colors. Wish thay had more than four seats though.
There’s a BMW i3 electric, which looks a bit odd to me (though it’s pretty normal looking in comparison to the similarly-sized Nissan Leaf).
Not **quite** as strange as a Leaf
Conceptually closer to the Fisker is the much more successful Tesla. Judging by how many I see every day, Tesla may actually be successful.
But I’m still not sure which one will be a CC. What do you think?
There were a few Fiskers in Vancouver. In person they are a very striking automobile much larger than pictures convey. GM should have bought them out and made these a Cadillac, instead of trying to pawn off a tarted up Volt on the public.
It’s weird you say that, because our Cadillac dealership was actually the licensed Fisker dealer here, before they went bust. It must be an adventurous franchisee, because they sold Maserati’s up until a few years ago too. At one point they had 5 Karma’s lined up against the front building. Very sharp cars, I still see them around town from time to time.
Completely agree it should have been a Cadillac. I always wondered why GM didn’t buy Fisker just for the design, and put traditional motors in them. That they didn’t I assumed it would have been too hard to put a internal combustion engine into the car that was designed for electric. But a really striking design to me.
Bob Lutz took your idea and is running with it, without GM. It has the ZR1’s Supercharged 6.2 V8 in place of the hybrid.
http://www.autoblog.com/2014/08/29/lutz-fisker-based-wm-destino-spy-shots/
The Fiskers does indeed have a nice design. I think it would have made a great Pontiac if Pontiac still existed. But as a conventional gas powered car rather then electric. I love the Pontiac Solstice, and the Fiskers reminds me of it. But I am an internal combustion guy, having been an auto mechanic for 36 years now. And while I love cars with style (which very few have anymore) I also want substance, and to me an internal combustion engine is at the very core of what makes a car a car. A love of mechanics and internal combustion engine is what got me into becoming a mechanic myself. But even newer internal combustion cars are too difficult and frustrating to work on. About 10 years ago I quit my company job and became a vintage car only mechanic. The vintage car scene is huge around here, and many of their owners do not know how or are physically unable to work on them. I started out “on the side”, did good work, and charged less than the others. Pretty soon I had more work than I could handle. I still do.
The various electric vehicles from circa 1900 are certainly Curbside Classics as are electric vehicles from other decades of the 20th Century including stuffed and mounted or repowered GM EV1s. I would also include homemade concoctions.
I quite like the BMW i3 and it is a vehicle I would like to own, but a much more desirable car is a 1st gen Honda Insight.
I’d say the Ranger EV already qualifies, more than a couple escaped the crusher and are still in service.
I think all of them will be classics eventually, but I’d most like to own the Tesla.
I once saw 6 or 7 Fisker Karmas at once, in the lot of a short-lived dealership in Fairfax, Virginia. It was a striking looking vehicle, and seeing that many at once was slightly mind-blowing.
I have been considering doing a Chevy Volt/Opel Ampera “Future CC” piece; maybe I should give it a try early next year.
I’d love to read that, and I’m sure it would be a great article… just get ready for tons of bullshit in the comments!
IMO, the Volt really should have been a slam dunk for GM and I think it’s a shame that it wasn’t. I’m not really sure what happened, but I don’t think the problem was with the car itself.
In regard to your title, I hope not. These things are nothing but oversized, overstyled golf carts IMO. “Car” at least to me, means internal combustion engine.
Interestingly enough in the early days of the automobile (1890-1920) electric cars outnumbered gas powered cars 2 to 1 due to ease of use and reliability(i.e. less parts involved conspiring to break down on you) Roads were almost non existent and since most cars stayed in cities, there was no worry about range issues. The internal combustion engine was dangerous and stunk and just the mundane task of starting the car could cause injury.
After Cadillac came out with the electric starter sales shifted to gas cars and the electric car(and steam car) died off.
Maybe not any of the Prius’s out there due to shear volume that are out there nor any of the Hybrid Toyota models(i.e. camry etc) out there also because these are also quite commonplace.
However I think some of the 1990’s- early 2000 Electric vehicles that sold in low volumes or were lease only vehicles will be future CC’s. Take the 98-01 Rav4 EV. These were sold to customers in CA and not just leased so there ones still out there. At my office in Maryland, there is a RAV4 EV that came from CA. Here is a grainy pic of the Rav4
The S-10 EV and Ranger EV are also CC worthy and I have seen a S-10 EV in the metal(and drove it) when I worked at a Chevy Dealer. It was very go-cart like and surprisingly smooth driving(unlike the S-10 with the 2.2l 4 cylinder)
I’ll go with the first generation Prius. Maybe they’re common as dirt on the west coast, but there’s only about 5-6 running around Richmond. Add another 25 years, and that should be down to 2-3.
Mitsubishi iMEV would be a definite CC. Hell, they’re rare as hen’s teeth now, due to their not being all that desirable to begin with.
The Sebring-Vanguard CitiCar already falls under that category. I’d love to find one of my own, if only for using in the situations where I currently run my Honda Metropolitan.
I am surprised that the first gen Prii are not common in your area. I see loads of them in and around the 95/495 corridor around Columbia, Laurel, Parts of Montgomery County (like Bethesda and Rockville) and in Northern VA(Fairfax, Arlington and Alexandria)
As for the Mitsu iMEV, well an Mitsu automobile(gas or electric) is a rare beast due to nobody wanting them.(I give that company 5 more years before it leaves the US Market like Isuzu and Suzuki) However that being said, I have seen no less then 10 of the iMEV in and around Bowie Maryland of all places in the past 6 months. Most had MD license plates but a couple had VA plates. I have never seen a Leaf in the metal though.
+1 on the i-MiEV for sure. Mitsubishi has sold a whopping 184 of them so far in the U.S. this year… yikes. I’ve still never seen one on the road, although I did sit in one at an auto show.
Mike Butts (aka MikePDX) wrote a great article comparing the i-MiEV to a 1917 Detroit Electric here (see, we’ve already had an eCC): https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-capsule/2012-mitsubishi-i-1917-detroit-electric-there-and-back-again/
If Mitsubishi could have gotten this out a few years earlier, I think they probably could have built a strong niche around it. Unfortunately, it hit showrooms right as a whole new crop of more American-compatible EVs were about to debut. Cars like the Leaf or Focus Electric aren’t as impressive from a design or packaging standpoint, but they’re much closer to the typical American idea of what a “real car” is, and at the moment, that’s probably far more important for EV adoption anyway.
I’d consider all the electrics from the late ’90s to be bona fide classics already. Hardly any of them escaped their lease agreements and the few that are left on the road go for pretty big bucks nowadays. The S-10EV is the coolest of those that escaped the crusher… wish I’d gotten to drive one, or a real EV1.
I’ve seen the same iMev a bunch of time in Baltimore. What’s odd is I don’t even see any for sale – I had checked AutoTrader out of curiosity, and the closest one was in NJ.
I’ve heard there are huge incentives on them – if you could actually use an electric car they are probably a steal.
The first-generation Prius is not that common around Los Angeles so far as I’ve noticed. It was really the second generation that put the Prius on the map; second- and third-gen cars are everywhere.
There are still quite a few 1st gens in New York, just nowhere near as many as the later Prii. They’re still a part of the city fleet, too (Dept. of Environmental Protection, of course):
The first ones have virtually disappeared from the roads around Seattle, they were fairly common at one time. A while ago I saw one and it made me do a double take realizing how long it had been since I had seen one on the road.
The Prius is not a EV it is a gas powered car so no it doesn’t count.
The RAV4 EV was leased not sold but like the Ranger EV Toyota wanted to avoid the public back lash that GM got for crushing the EV1s.
I know a couple who is all in with EVs, who have a RAV 4 they brought from CA to go with their Roadster and Leaf.
I have seen exactly one Karma. In contrast I see the occasional Volt, and Tesla Model S’es on the road most frequently. Given the rarity of them, and that the company went out of business so there won’t be any more, I’d say this makes them an instant classic.
It will probably be hard to keep them roadworthy in future, once their batteries need replacement. Fisker had chosen A123 as their battery supplier, and when A123 went bankrupt, that foreshadowed the end of Fisker as well.
> A Chinese company bought them and claims that they will reintroduce the Karma in 2015.
I thought the remains of Fisker was bought by a group led by Bob Lutz, and he was going to retrofit them with Corvette drivetrains. Or did he just buy the unsold inventory of Karmas?
According to Wikipedia, he bough the last 25 unsold “gliders” for the conversion, to be called the “Destino”. The Chinese company Wanxiang bought Fisker Automotive – which makes sense since they first bought A123 Systems , and A123 was the battery supplier for Fisker whose bankruptcy spelled the end for Fisker.
The more interesting hybrids, which I’d definitely count Fisker and Tesla among, will certainly be CC’s one day. There probably won’t be many of them, as the unavailability of batteries will probably lead to some Fiskers being ingloriously scrapped at the end of their service life, but there will also be some that beat the battery life odds long enough for someone to devise a replacement power cell. It’ll happen evntually as battery technology continues to advance, or perhaps a pocket-size hydrogen fuel cell system could take their place and use an adapter of some sort to make the connections work. Others will undoubtedly show up with internal combustion engines, which is certainly less authentic, but a CC with a swapped engine is still a CC. (Just one that will anger some of our commentariat!)
For more common hybrids/EV’s, like Volts, Prii, and even Teslas and Leafs (Leaves?), I imagine batteries will be continuously available. Maybe not cheap, but available. Or maybe cheap depending on how the technology matures!
Also, regarding the i3: WTF was BMW thinking? It’s striking, but in a way that has more in common with an Aztek than a Karma.
Ive heard of some company converting Fiskers with a SBC. Seems more logical, if you ask me. Repowering dead batteries with an ICE might be the way to keep some of them alive, but is it really worth the hassle? And what with ever more pervasive electronics, would it even be possible? Although… The derange madman in me wants to do something completely insane like piggybacking a pair of 440 6paks on a 4wd Dodge truck frame and then mount a gutted prius shell on to it. Then just watch the greenies scream!
I hate the Prius with a passion. But I have to admit the concept of a diesel Prius crossed my mind. That is a car I wouldn’t mind driving.
I suspect the BMW i3’s strange styling is because they really don’t want to sell that many. People are denying it’s a “compliance car”, but it seems more like a tech showcase than a serious effort.
We have had a E CC before electric cars have been around for over a century, I forget what the brand was but an ancient E car has been featured before.
Bakers and Detroit Electrics already go for major bucks. Just ask Jay Leno.
Right you are Bryce, the existing eCC is Monte Shelton’s 1917 Detroit Electric Brougham (CC here). Not only is it the only electric CC so far, it’s the only CC which is a genuine Brougham.
Yes thats the one and in true CC effect style I saw another in the Southward museum when I visited it
I think I’ve told the story here of my one and only Fisker sighting. A little over a year ago we parked next to one in the garage of a popular “foodie” grocery store in downtown St. Louis. It appeared to have been abandoned as it was thoroughly covered in dirt and the back window and trunk lid had been adorned with lots of fingertip graffiti. (including the inevitable “WASH ME”) I was tempted to add “YOUR TAX $ AT REST” to all of the various musings in the dirt, but there was no place left to write!
Gotta admit it’s a damn good looking car in the metal. Underneath all that dirt was a stunning shade of dark blue.
Interesting question. Had Fisker held out longer and there were more cars on the road, a replacement battery solution could be a profitable small-company project. But with only 2k cars, that could be an issue. Of course, is there anything about those batteries that would stand in the way of a bright EE rigging something up in his (or her) garage? I’m looking at you, MikePDX.
Given the ever increasing capacity and decreasing cost of batteries, there’s little doubt that someone will be able to build a functional (or even more capable) battery pack 10 or 20 years from now for a Fisker or such. As more young EE types have extensive experience with modern batteries, I can’t see any obstacles to that. But whether the economics are there is perhaps another question.
But the Fisker is so unique and handsome, I could well see it being the case.
Hot rodding and restoring is going to change. Beyond what we currently can easily visualize.
If people want to keep these cars running and showable, they’re going to find a way how.
“If people want to keep these cars running and showable, they’re going to find a way how”
Good point. BUT, that’s a very big ‘if’. E cars have done much to divide the automotive world. They appeal more to people who are anti-car, not the next generations of gearheads. Take a good look at the demographic that is into these things. You almost never see a prius driven by anyone who isn’t AARP material. And Teslas are a fashion statement for the rich who want to look like they care also but want something bigger/nicer than the prius. The younger crowd either doesn’t care at all and drive bottom feeder econoboxes from one of the many Appliance Motors Inc or are interested in cars and go for trucks, modern muscle, or sporty imports.
What im getting at is unless a vehicle invokes some kind of passion on a visceral level and becomes a part of the persons lifestyle then its just another disposable item. See the hordes of cammacords that are bought because theyre cheap and reliable then ridden till they don’t ride no more. Classic muscle cars, trucks and 4x4s are preserved in larger numbers because on some level they are more than the sum of their parts.
How is anyone into EVs or hybrids anti-car? Are EVs not cars? Maybe it doesn’t fit the narrow stereotype of what “being a car guy” is, but that’s on your end. I’ve been a massive car junkie my entire life and I can’t think of a new vehicle I’d like to own more than a Tesla Model S. There’s really nothing even close, and I seriously doubt that I’m an exception (even amongst CCers).
Replacing a battery pack is a much less involved proposition than replacing something like a transmission or a head gasket. The cost depends on the size of the battery, so it’s anywhere from a thousand bucks or so on parallel hybrids to five figures for high-end EVs. On average, it’s probably twice the cost of replacing a transmission on a modern car, but that’s also likely the only major repair an EV will ever need. There’s no oil changes, no filters, no belts, no starters, no alternators, no gasoline, etc. – and the price is coming down all the time as technology improves and competition sprouts up. By the time these cars have reached legitimate classic age, this will be even less of a non-issue than it already is.
Youre in the minority there. Take a good honest look at any hybrid/ev on the road. Theyre usually piloted by the elderly or maybe federal beauracrat types. Yes, its a broad and sweeping stereotype but those are rooted in truth. Have you ever once seen any of these cars modded, hot-rodded or even remotely personalized? NO an Obama sticker on the bumper doesn’t count.
And you just made my point: replacing batteries are twice the cost of a transmission…and its a matter of WHEN, not IF they wear out. Trannys can last the life of the car in some instances. If not, then maybe its a servicing or even a rebuild…it isn’t a wear item. EVs and hybrids contribute to the whole ‘disposable appliance’ mentality that is pervasive these days. These cars have little to no charm or personality that makes you WANT to care about them. They don’t have that un quantifiable ‘thing’ that a muscle car, air cooled VW, Z car, Jeep CJ, etc etc has. What youre getting into here is very much like a guy who’s into crotchrockets breaking out his spreadsheets and trying to explain to a Harley guy how much better the latest Suzuki KX-n98 47 Kobayashi sushi sayonara turbo is than an old school chopper. Sorry, but its like the old saying goes: If you have to ask then you will never understand. And theres no way in hell any electric ANYTHING will ever give me the same feeling as a good old American V8 at my command. Not one of these things speaks to me on any level and they never will. I guarantee you Im not alone.
Maybe it’s the difference between your part of the country and mine, but I’d disagree that most Prii and other hybrids are driven by the AARP/elderly/bureaucrat set. They’re all over the place here in Richmond, and quite a lot of them are driven by younger folks. My upstairs neighbor drives a Prius (don’t know exactly how old he is, but I’d highly doubt he’s over 30). One of our friends also drives a Prius (he’s 28). Another friend of mine drives a Civic Hybrid. (She’s 33.) And they’re not the only examples, just the 3 I personally know and can think of. The point being that, at least where I live, one cannot really stereotype hybrid drivers.
Are they normally “car people”? Well no. But that’s OK. Now if you make the jump to Teslas, on the other hand, I know lots of “car guys” who’d love one, myself included. Their price makes them somehwat unobtainable, but I think they have significant appeal to a subset of gearheads who appreciate that type of technology.
Others, like yourself, find them anathema, and that’s your call. Differing interests are a good thin!
You can have the battery refurbished by replacing the dead cells, but I think it’s cheaper to just replace the whole thing. Batteries in an EV or hybrid are a fuel storage device, so I guess you feel that replacing a rusty fuel tank in a 20 year old pickup makes it a disposable appliance, too? In urban taxi usage, hybrid batteries typically last 200-300k miles at a minimum, sometimes more; all are warrantied from the factory for 100k miles at least. It’s not like they’re exactly new technology at this point… they’ve been around for 15+ years already and proven extremely reliable.
The rest of your comment just goes to show what a gimmick your whole schtick is. All those people with sportbikes, they’re just assholes who love math, huh? LOL… come on. What’s your deal? Are you hybriphobic?
In any case, the important thing is this: you don’t get to define what qualifies someone as an auto enthusiast. It might come as a shock, but there are a substantial amount of people in this world who don’t give a shit whatsoever about American V8s or Harleys and can put the “car guy” cred you’re trying so hard to cultivate to shame. All of that shit is entirely subjective, and yes there are tons of people modifying or building EVs for drag racing or track use. I don’t know if you’ve been living under a Camaro on jackstands for the last decade or what, but Ferrari, McLaren, Porsche and BMW have all introduced PHEV supercars in the last year to rave reviews. If you think a whack-ass XTREME sparkly red 350 Chevelle that sets off car alarms and runs 15s seems more exciting and emotional than a Porsche 918, that’s… certainly an opinion.
Hi Jim! I agree, no problem fabricating replacement battery packs in the future. 3D printing and computer-driven machining makes the framework and even the terminals reproduceable. Hell, maybe they’ll even rig up one of those Mr. Fusion units ;-). “Batteries? Who needs batteries?”
Some cars already have a mount for the Mr. Fusion unit.
Hello 1960 New Yorker
I cant see many electrics/hybrids surviving. For one thing, the tech isn’t proven to last. In fact, its proven NOT to. How many 10 year old cel phones do you see people still using? Sure you COULD replace the battery ever so many years but by then, an upgrade is nearly free for some carriers and its nowhere near cost effective, plus you have outdated gear. E-cars are popular with a demographic that isn’t into cars, so they’ll be treated like any other appliance. Sure, a few might actually look striking enough but the appearance is so trendy that it will soon be dated…much like 26″ spinner wheels. That wont motivate a 2nd 3rd or 4th owner to spring for a fresh bank of batteries that will likely cost more than what a used beater set them back.
I disagree. Once we get past the point where they’re just another useful car (they are, believe it or not) I can see a good aftermarket forming to keep them on the road. Not quite Mustang level, but definitely better than Hupmobile. As batteries get better (and they will) you’re going to see the early electrics performing better than they originally did. It’ll be something like modern ‘resto-rods’. Too many of them around, and the audience is going to get the idea that those old cars were better performers than they actually were.
Agreed. Enthusiasts of the original, two-seat, manual transmission Honda Insight have been replacing the factory battery packs with refurbished packs from the Prius, leading to them getting even better mileage and grade-climbing ability.
I think Syke’s right. Teslas especially include a significant subset of car-guy owners.
One really can’t compare a cell phone to an electric car. The cell phone has so many other issues, (carrier promotions, manufacturer promotions and changing technologies) while an EV is built to certain standards that don’t change with the shifting winds.
I can remember when we started getting computer controlled engines in cars, people were concerned about how to keep cars running with these computers in them. Here we are 30+ years later, and you can find all kinds of computer controlled cars with barely a problem.
Like others have mentioned, there will be improvements in batteries and the technology involved with them. While in my current financial circumstances I would be hesitant to buy a Fisker, I would feel less concerned about something with more support like a Prius, Volt or Leaf. Those cars have a fairly decent “user base” and I have to imagine once the aftermarket gets going on those cars, there will be improvements that will be able to be implemented.
Besides, I think the Fisker, nee Destino, that Bob Lutz is putting together is a smashing idea. It *is* too bad that GM didn’t buy Fisker AND use Lutz’s idea. I could see a top of the line Cadillac/Fisker electric only and an ICE version of the same car, all in the same showroom. Not unlike what BMW is doing with their i-Series.
I’ve loved cars since I was 3. I’m fascinated by the talent hybrids and electrics bring to the market -and don’t forget, every one of them uses less or no) gas for your old fashioned ICE to use.
For the question of durability, ask a cabbie. I live in San Francisco, torture for cars with killer hills, crappy roads, stop and go- they all LOVE their Escape and Prius hybrids.. 200,000 miles easy, rare, rare brake jobs. The brakes alone (with these hills!) can last 70,000 miles. I was surprised to hear such raves but they’re unanimous.
I think most will be like old phones(ever see anyone making a fashion statement today by using an old flip phone?), the few like the Fisker will inevitably have ICE swaps.
The answer is undoubtedly yes, as I can’t imagine some of these cars not being around long enough to qualify. There’s a slew of gen1 Prii running around here, and they’re getting on 15 years old now. There will be battery replacements available for them very readily, given their numbers and otherwise durability.
And undoubtedly Tesla will be offering replacement battery packs (with improved performance) for its cars for a long time to come. The Fisker is a bit of an iffy question.
That’s going to be the interesting part of collecting now-current/soon-vintage electric cars. Depending on how the battery technology goes, it may become impossible to have one of these cars running 25-50 years from now and still running under the original limitations as per the day it came off the assembly line.
Its already possible, almost mandatory, to improve the performance of a Sebring-Vanguard CityCar well past the original, both in controllability and range. Most people forget that the original controller was stacked relays with nary a piece of solid state electronics sitting under the seat.
Indeed the existing CC 1917 Detroit Electric is running with modern deep-cycle lead-acid batteries which are surely superior to the factory originals.
Anyone owning a nice second- or thirdgen Prius in SoCal in 30 years won’t be lacking in finding film and TV (well, video…will there even be a distinction of how its’ consumed?) work for it, they’re so popular and distinct that they’ll no doubt serve as an icon of their (our) era that no ’00s/10s street scene would be complete without.
Both Volts and Teslas are more likely to be appreciated for what they are than the time they represent, one the underappreciated massive step forward from a long-established automaker, the other the most successful startup for decades in an industry known for failed ones.
Another full-electric car I see quite regularly is the Renault Zoe. Looks less extreme than the BMW and Nissan. (Photo courtesy autobild.de)
Actually looks like a normal car!
I guess there somewhat interesting in a technological sense but to a car guy like me and most of my friends not so much!
And what about the Tesla Roadster?
Exotic – for sure.
Interesting – as a “warm-up” exercise that foreshadowed a real game changer – definitely.
Rare – oh yes.
That’s my type.
And I have the feeling Tesla will keep them on the road to keep the credibility for the brand.
What do you think?
The Tesla Roadster was a sharp car. It reminds me of a Lotus. A gas powered version of that could have been a true exotic.
That’s because it’s built on the Lotus Elise chassis.
Hooked ya with that one.
That’s the joke, buddy.
How is the Tesla Roadster less exotic than the cheaper, slower and far more common gas-powered Lotus it’s based on?
@JunkyaedDog – it IS a Lotus Elise in disguise 🙂
There already is. Designed by Giotto Bizzarrini, no less.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cohort-sighting-zagato-zele-pintsized-70s-futurism/
Man, that’s a looker. It reminds me of something from my Hot Wheels collection when I was a kid. It looks like a better Jaguar than Jaguar is making.
Well now that you mention it…..I’ve been driving a 2011 Think City to work for the past couple of months now. It’s great to finally be electric.
I was going to convert my ’93 Miata into an electric roadster, which would have been a super little car. That would have been a lot of work, some fun some not so fun, and probably about $18K for the motor, controller, batteries, BMS, charger, etc. In the meantime suddenly everybody’s driving electric cars but me – quite a few plugged in at work every day. Then I saw ads for several Think Citys for just $13K. A complete low-mileage excellent condition EV for less money than the parts and no work required.
It’s a Hoosier, designed in Norway but assembled in Indiana near the Ener1 battery plant that made its pack. Think went bust too, before Fisker did. Cost too much ($35K initially), more than the Nissan Leaf that came out after it did. They sold their remaining inventory of 150 for cost at $22K, mostly to Portlanders. After the tax benefit that’s $15K, which is why they’re now running $13K for used ones.
Great little two-seat Euro-EV, handles very well, plenty of acceleration from its Siemens induction motor, and much better looking in my opinion than the Asian EVs. Interesting construction, stamped steel platform with an aluminum roll cage structure that has ABS plastic body panels attached. Batteries are below the seats. Fully crash tested to current standards. Engineered by Ford when they used to own Think.
One of these days I’ll have to write up this sure-to-be future CC. I’m quite enjoying my properly 21st-century ride.
That’s awesome! Definitely a future/instant CC, especially since so few were built. I remember seeing an original Ford Th!nk (also red) darting through traffic once while they were briefly available in the U.S. That was way before the smart fortwo was sold here and it was a wildly unconventional sight – like it had just driven over from the middle of some European city. Very cool looking car, both old and new versions.
And much like the i-MiEV, I think Th!nk (durrrr) would’ve done so much better had they gotten this car across the Atlantic a few years earlier, during the time when hybrids were really taking off and the ZAPs and ZENNs of the world were occupying the EV vacuum.
I’d like to think there would be eCCs in the future. I think they already exist now, with first gen Prius and Insights. Although, since those are hybrids, I don’t know if they exactly qualify as a “real” eCC. Maybe the Tesla Roadster since its battery only? Or some of the 90’s battery powered cars and pickups that were mentioned earlier? We may need a ruling on this from the officials…
To answer all those folks who think that electric cars don’t inspire passion like ICE cars, I really think you need to look again. While the kinds of enthusiasts that go for the hybrids and electric cars don’t look like the average Camaro or Civic driver, their passion is as hot as anyone else’s, I believe. I myself am rather interested in a Chevy Volt, but don’t want to pull the trigger on one just yet for a myriad of reasons that not related to it being a hybrid. I’ve spoken to Prius, Volt, Tesla, Leaf and iMiev owners all who are generally very enthusiastic about their cars, but in a different way than I am about my Aztek. Different strokes for different folks.
Besides, the more oil they don’t use, I can use in *my* cars. What a deal!
I saw a white Fisker Karma parked on the street about a month ago, first one I had ever seen up close. Absolutely beautiful car… shame about the clusterfuck the company became. It was near the set of an outdoor Law & Order SVU shoot in Manhattan and I really want to believe that it belonged to Ice T.
I love gas engines, but I don’t have to have one in my regular vehicle. If I’ve got a collector car that uses petroleum in an electric or hydrogen world, that will make it even cooler by comparison. People tend to see this as a black and white issue, as if all gas cars will be immediately outlawed by bureaucrats and tree huggers, and gasoline stations boarded up, but nothing is that simple. More likely, market forces will make even internal combustion nuts reevaluate their view of alternate fuel for their everyday cars.
My mind was changed by Tesla. They offer a different kind of rush, with the instant torque they provide, and this technology, given their sharing, can now trickle down to economy cars. When you see Harley-Davidson dabbling in electric motorcycles, you know that the manufacturers are more prepared for future options than the public is.
The number of explosive Bakken crude oil trains running within a mile of where I work has increased exponentially in the last year. It’s being noticed and worried over by more than just leftists now. The tail is wagging the dog as the oil companies and railroads put profitability over public safety.
Let me take my collector car to a boutique to buy gasoline, and put me in an alternative fuel vehicle for every day use. I’ll be looking for a used one when my Outback eventually dies.