why do these cars always (well not always, but most of the time) look so boring? (the tesla excepted offcourse)

I'll take "boring" over "weird". Have you seen some of the others that look like badly-proportioned boxes?

Boring appeal -
Maybe because 'they' won't get the greatest number of possible customers if the car looked racy or stand-out-ish.
It kind of looks like a Jetta made by Hyundai. I thought the grill badge was the Hyundia H .
I wonder how the insides look.
I think it looks very pleasing. Possibly a good 'fleet' vehicle as well.
And I'm sure more exotic looks = more exotic price. There might be different versions coming. The Prius is a cool body though.
I hope the price comes down. I wonder what the Tesla White Star sedan will look like.
I hope it catches on.
vsk

Chris, they often look distinctive because people who buy electric or "green" cars are burnishing their environmental cred; they want to be noticed. This is why the Prius was so successful - it's instantly recognizable. I believe more normal-looking green vehicles is a sign of mainstream adoption.

Finally an electric car that looks like a normal car, it may be a bit boring looking but so are most econocars. This is very refreshing to see and is the 2nd electric car I would think of buying (Tesla was the first but 100 large is too much for me). I think as more capacity to produce batteries for vehicles comes on line prices should improve.

I can never understand treehuggers that gush over those weird looking creations from Zap etc. I think many people want a more normal looking car.

One question, what is the range in the winter with the heater being used?

Considering how well a car like the Toyota Corolla is selling (best selling car in the world, no?), I think it looks like.. well, it looks like it could sell.

Chris, because range is such a limiting factor for electric vehicles. The batteries just can't store as much energy as gasoline, so EVs have to use it as efficiently as possible. The bodies will be designed for aerodynamics, not aesthetics.

I still think it's boring, but as a design student I might be a bit picky :P

It does indeed have the lines of the old VW passat and the face of a last generations hyundai...

it would have been so much better if they dropped the chrome rim along the upper windows and the headlights...

the design would be very modern, in 2000 or so... I think that's the problem, I'm not asking for a futuristic exotic car.. just a design that looks like it wasn't made 10 years ago....

I would personally never buy it... (and privatly think that there is a moron driving it every time I see one, although that thought is not limited to this car... many SUV's and quite a few korean, german, american and japanese cars get the same treatment) but hey! that's taste for you...

mind you the technology is great!

just make it a bit more interesting to look at, like say Fiat, Alfa romeo, Peugeot or Audi do to their cars....

Maybe boring is strategy.

People often will only accept one change at a time. you change the drivetrain, better make sure the rest has no surprises.. Make sense?

I'm not sure where this information was found, but I work for MILES and the price tag for the XS500 is still projected to be between $30,000 and $35,000. Please email me with any questions: ksaltness@milesev.com

Thanks,

Kara Saltness

Put it another way.
It looks just like a Toyota Camry.

THe Toyota Camry is the best selling car in America.

This is , without doubt, the last car anyone would pay $60,000 for. Battery-only EVs are crap - a claimed 120 mile range will turn out to be very, very different in the real world. Use the AC/ windshiled wipers, stereo, on wet roads and hilly terrain, with a battery pack that's a little old, and you might very well run out of juice after 80 miles. Surprise,surprise. You're screwed. Just like the hundreds of EV-1 drivers who found that "100 miles driving range" was mostly a hope and a prayer. 120 miles can't even get me to my closest recereation area and home. Hit a detour on a near 80/120 mile round trip and you're screwed. Get lost (as I did recently ) in a strange area and you're screwed again. When will this younger generation get real and admit their lie that a battery-only electric cars make no sense, and quit shilling a technology that sucks. NO ONE, absolutely NO ONE should be dumb enough to keep these $40,000 can't-do vehicles around for running groceries and commuting. soaking up insurance premiums , personal property taxes, etc. When someone builds an EV that can be recharged in 10 minutes, goes over 250 miles on a single charge and costs less than $30,000, then give me a call.
But don't expect to find me standing near the phone. Plug-in EVs are the only electric cars that make sense and can do everything a battery-only can, and are practical vehicles. Current battery-only EVs are practically useless, regardless of price.

Look at the best-selling cars in America. The Camry, the Accord, the Corrolla. All "boring." See the angle these guys were going for?

Sure, I love the look of the Aptera, and I'd much rather have one of those than one of these, but this is more practical for my life, so I'm more seriously conisdering this one. That is, looks aren't everything, either.

I know it makes sense to keep the innovation low on the rest of the car, because people are quite conservative about innovation, and if the shape is old, they will more willingly accept the new technology... I can understand (and have been teached) about these things..

but I still think it looks boring.. making sense or not.. being aerodynamic or not... its just a boring, uninspiring car, as are the camry, the corolla and many other pieces of personal transportation gore that some people call cars...

I am not saying that it isn't logial senible or whatever.. I was just voiving my opinion that it is an ugly piece of junk, and I would not buy it (but many other people probably, and hopefully will.. just as many people bought SUV's or any other stuff that).

If they only hadn't glued bling all over it, and kept the shape simple (like Audi) I wouldn't have said a thing...

so please don't try to convince me that it isn't all bad... I know it isn't, and I know that the technology is great.. I just don't like the way it looks....

@ross:

I know that looks aren't everything, but they coun't for something... but there are enough beautiful alternatives (at least here in europe.. I don't have a good view (probably quite biased, so incorrect) on the american cars that are for sale at the moment).

I would personally rather buy a car that looks good enough to not make me wish I had a more beautiful car (not the most beautiful dream car, but just a nice car) than the one that I bought... But I respect that there are enough people who do not share my view, or who are just not interested in looks if the car is green or practical (as I am not interested in green technology, or extreme practicality if the car is, in my opinion, ugly)...

As an after thought (and as reaction on a couple of posts):

just because most of the best selling cars are boring doesn't mean that if you make a car boring it will be a best seller... that like saying a cow is an animal, so all animals are cows..

"It does indeed have the lines of the old VW passat and the face of a last generations hyundai..."

...probably because it is a Chinese knock-off of those vehicles. That's pretty much the modus operandi of the Chinese auto industry. Almost all of their vehicles are immediately recognisable as something else from 5 or 10 years ago. They do well at making things inexpensively, but lack in original design.

At 30k, this would be a hard sell for me. My expected total operating cost (price plus fuel, maintenance, insurance, taxes, etc.) for 100,000 miles for my compact hatchback is only about $25,000.

120 miles is enough range for most people most days, but not good enough to be most people's only reliable means of transportation. I frequently have to drive more than 120 miles in a day because of my job. This car might not get me where I'm going some days, much less get me back home, and as someone else mentioned, that range can drop significantly in less than optimal conditions.

I don't doubt that they would be perfectly safe and reliable as designed, but give them six months to a year, and half of the cars coming off of the assembly line would likely riddled with defects.

Think about all of the Chinese made appliances, electronics, trinkets, etc. that you've seen that only worked for a little while if at all. My experience with Chinese manufacturers is that they have very low standards and are difficult to retrain, and they don't have any more respect for quality even with a product that could be potentially deadly if not built according to the specs.

It isn't that they don't know that there is lead in the paint that they're putting on children's toys or that lead is toxic, they just don't care. As long as the product looks good enough to sell, they're fine with it, and they are virtually immune to law in any other country, so holding them responsible is nearly impossible.

Wow, that artieglen guy is an uber naysayer.
Maybe he's a plant by the big oil conspirators!

And talk about the others who wax poetically about the car being ugly. Boy, if it didn't have this piece of chrome here and they did a nip and tuck there...
Maybe the "moron" driving it doesn't have to do long trips, has a little solar power to spare, and doesn't care what self-appointed cognoscienti have to say.
Opinions are like ... snowflakes, yeah that's it.

I would love to do an electric conversion but good kits are very expensive and you might just end up with a never-ending science project (my apologies to those of you who might be at your wit's end waiting for an oddball piece to finish your project).

If people think it's such 'ugly junk', feel free to start designing and experimenting. Put that critical creative energy towards something constructive.
vsk

"This is , without doubt, the last car anyone would pay $60,000 for. Battery-only EVs are crap - a claimed 120 mile range will turn out to be very, very different in the real world. Use the AC/ windshiled wipers, stereo, on wet roads and hilly terrain, with a battery pack that's a little old, and you might very well run out of juice after 80 miles. Surprise,surprise. You're screwed. Just like the hundreds of EV-1 drivers who found that "100 miles driving range" was mostly a hope and a prayer. 120 miles can't even get me to my closest recereation area and home. ."

google stats on the AVERAGE commuting distance and the percentage of people who commute that far or LESS. My normal commute is 10 miles round trip, so an above average day for me is 20 miles. If range were reduced to 80 miles, I could go days without recharging. For $60k? no thank you, but for $30k worth considering.

My work even has plugs for charging EV's if needed! (rare, I know!)

" Get lost (as I did recently ) in a strange area and you're screwed again."

My portable GPS has probably saved more gas $ than it cost, and I throw it in the carry on when I fly, so have it when in other cities.

OMG!

Would you americans please remember us poor souls in Europe!

You are whining about $30k-40k price tags for a quite decent looking car.

Over here (in Denmark) a Toyota Prius is $75k! (due to 180% tax on ANY car with an ICE where as electric vehicles are totally tax exempt!)

Also petrol is now $8/gallon.

Maybe you should look at the many EV start ups as a possibility to export a lot of cars to Europe and thus reducing the deficit and creating new jobs in the US :o)

regards,

Dan

This car looks like it was made in the 90s

Dan K has a point. This car might have limited appeal in the US market, but could be a hit in countries with prices/taxes like that.

I belong to an EV club in Australia and "battery only" cars are for city driving and running around. They don't need to have a big range.

How many of you have two cars? And how many of you use one of those cars for taking the kids to school, running errands, picking up groceries, etc? You paid good money for that car and it probably never does more than 50miles per trip. Plug it in every night and range is never an issue!

So...
I think the XS500 looks pretty nice. It looks "main stream", has a decent range, can carry 4/5 passengers (my electric capri only carries 2), and it'll save a heck of alot on petrol (short range stop-and-go driving gives the worst mileage). I like it!

Not Impressed

My 2006 Prius, 40k Cnd$

Plug-In EV option, 5k$ to 15k$

At least I get to "keep" my gas motor for unlimited range. Plug-In for the daily drive to work.

This car is 60k$ with less bells & whistles than the Prius. Less interior space.

Wow - who let the naysayers out?

When did they bring out a Plug-in only version for the Prius?

And for god sakes Read The Article, it's $30k as corrected, paying $60k for an all electric vehicle still seems reasonable, as long as the battery is guaranteed for as long as I own the vehicle.

I really don't care what price it comes out to, I want it available and out there for the people to see.

If electric cars are never available across the world, how will the change begin? Battery technology will never improve, range and reliability issues will never be addressed.

To the people with a Prius, you're the reason we're getting all electric vehicles, thanks for being early adopters.

stop complaining there building the car as inexpensively as possible. so that people can afford it,

the important thing is that hopefully soon, the usa can stop sending billions of dollars to nations that use our money to bomb us and finance terror.

our goal must be to become energy dependent

i will not be buying anymore gasoline cars, i will wait and buy only electric

i am for electric cars 100%

1/ for Benelux (belgium,netherland,luxemburg) standaard, the range is acceptabel. The disgn also. But if you can agree to ride in a car with a top speed of 130kph ,why don't they bring down the power in actual cars and so the fuel consumption. you will only need a 60 hp - 1.0L diesel engine. The fuel consumption will then be 60 miles for 1 gallon. my accual car is an automatic 1.9l diesel - 105hp car and needs on average 1 gallon for 40 miles in urban drive.

2/ I don' see why there is such a large price difference between us cars en european car. The same chevrolet cobalt (us)/ chevrolet nubira (eu) costs in europe +/- 60% more than in the US. This car will cost 35000$ = 22500€ an will be sold for 40.000€. that is nog acceptabel.