Miles Automotive Aims to Bring Affordable, All-Electric Vehicles to Market
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 09.20.07
Fancy that spiffy new Tesla Roadster but don't feel like shelling out $100,000 to (try to) get your mitts on one? Fear not: help is on the way. While it doesn't exactly fit into the same luxury EV mold as Tesla's fine rides, Miles Automotive's ZX40 4-door hatchback will satisfy your basic driving needs in a pinch.
Founded by 79-year old multi-millionaire Miles Rubin, Miles Automotive is a company whose mission it is to bring affordable, low-polluting electric vehicles to the mass market. More importantly, he started the company as a way to fight back against global climate change. While he isn't expecting the ZX40 - which costs close to $15,000 - to conquer the minivan market, Rubin hopes it will help him get his foot in the door and expand the burgeoning EV market. A highway speed sedan is already in the works for early 2009.
The ZX40 - which can be plugged into any old wall socket - has been a minor hit with NASA and several college campuses, which have purchased roughly 300 of them over the last few months. Rubin expects the upcoming speed sedan - which will have a range of 120 miles and go about 80 miles per hour (with an estimated price tag of $30,00) - to be a bigger success story.
Still, having already signed with dozens of dealers around the U.S., Miles Rubin is hopeful that his vehicles will eventually make a dent in the market for EVs and other fuel-efficient cars. "Things will happen very quickly. And I hope we're on the leading edge of it, not just to be first, because I'd like to say in this point of my career that I was able to make a change that mattered," he said.
Via ::NPR: Entrepreneur Hopes to Charge Electric-Car Market (radio show)
See also: ::Flybo Arrives on U.S. Shores, ::Epoq NEV - Electric Driving on a Budget
Image courtesy of NPR
Its not Zero Pollution if it gets its electricity from coal fired power plants...then its 'displaced pollution...'
Wow! That little car looks great ! I have to search for the performance. I wonder if it is a fgn produced chassis and tooled over over here or is it all home-grown?
The other big change that could matter would be to have them all produced here in the USA and EXPORT them.
I remember some small airlines that were started with disgruntled and laid off airline workers.
I am sure there is no shortage of skilled labor to be had here. They could be 100% built here.
Anyway, I am rambling without doing my research.
I wish it well !!
vsk
How about zero tail-pipe emmissions?
The source of EV charge debate still apparently rages on.
Electric vehicles can also be charged via mass solar, house-hold solar, wind and hydro.
Don't forget to blather on about the carbon used to import them, export them and the nasty factories used to produce them...
It would be nice to just be able to run around on a second hand bike but sometimes, stuff just needs to be hauled over large distances.
Each little advance in transportation should be noted, lauded where appropriate, and encouraged. Otherwise, people will continue to produce the same old conspicuous consumption oversized stuff.
vsk
Ugh. These ridiculous 25mph electric vehicles are simply...ridiculous. What percentage of people live in places that have 25mph speed limits? Don’t think big cities. If you try driving at 25 in even the most congested Manhattan traffic, you'll get run down by everyone.
Of course, people in big cities can just take public transit, so there goes that market for these things.
So, most of us regular folks need to drive 10-30 miles to work, on roads that average 40mph. Think any of these companies is going to figure that out soon? Or maybe they're making plenty of ching selling to campuses. Whatever.
Sorry but there's nothing great about a 25MPH box on wheels. Might turn on some treehuggers but will turn off most people. I would like to see that sedan unveiled however, sounds more real world usable to me.
.....Its not Zero Pollution if it gets its electricity from coal fired power plants...then its 'displaced pollution...'
Yeah but only a fraction of the pollution of the ICE!!
Which pollutes in the building process and while you drive it.
The EV's can be charged from Solar Panels.....the ICE will always need the pump!
I'm sick of people complaining about displaced pollution from EVs. The whole point is they have the potential to be run from renewable energy.
Try running an ICE vehicle on coal? can't be done? EV -> coal fired power plant.
Try running a petrol or diesel internal combustion engine off sunlight.... Can't be done? thought so. Try it with an EV. Yeah, you need solar panels, but it can be done.
Try running an ICE vehicle from say, wind power. Can't be done? EV -> Wind turbine.
Try running an ICE from hydro.... I think you get the point. The EV gives you that freedom. The EV also has a pretty good ratio of input energy to work done, unlike an ICE vehicle. Sure it may be less efficient to produce electricity than to pump oil out of the ground, but the vehicle itself is making the best of it's energy source.