evnow said:
http://www.egmcartech.com/2011/12/13/report-nissan-debating-on-what-its-4th-ev-model-should-be/
Hmmm. Personally I won't buy a car with lesser range than Leaf. That would force us to use the ICE even within Seattle area.
I definitely would. That's exactly what I'm in the market for right now. I have an ICE SUV for the long trips, we have the LEAF for one of our commuter cars and our primary in-town weekend car, I need another car for the other commuter. For the summer time, that's the Xebra for me, but during the winter it's too bloody cold. Plus, it's just not a safe or reliable vehicle, and can't go on the freeways. So, any time that I need to go on the freeways or the weather is too cold/wet, I take the ICE.
I'd love to replace my Xebra with a small EV. Something with a back seat (carseat for the kid), has some safety features that the Xebra is lacking (airbags, crumple zones, basically not a motorcycle), can go on the freeway, and has a heater. Give me a reliable range of 20 miles and a price UNDER 20k, and I'll take it.
A LEAF for my wife, a townpod-type-thing for my commuter, and my long-haul ICE is a good combination.
An alternative (and probably best solution for me) would be to swap my ICE SUV for a plug-in hybrid SUV, but it would have to have some towing capacity in order to make it viable, and I just don't see that happening in a plug-in hybrid for several more years. Quite frankly, I think that kind of vehicle would be enormously popular in the US, as long as it got about 20 miles of pure EV range before going into hybrid mode (when not towing, obviously).