I am working on an electric vehicle with the first goal being “affordable”. I’d be interested in feedback, so here is some self-promotion (web host - OK?). Check out http://www.avianmotors.com.

http://www.flytheroad.com (offical site)

http://www.flytheroadclub.com (unoffical site)

They are making lots of progress and they are talking $18K to $20K USD.

A common man’s Tesla Roadster, that is just as much fun!

I put $99.00 down on a Smart Car because the combination of 40 miles to the gallon and the low base sticker cost is right for my wallet. And before any of you out there start to say that the fuel economy is too low for a car so small, just remember two things. The cost is much lower than the Prius and you can usually beat the average MPG by acquiring better driving habits.

That said, however, would the Smart Car be my first choice if there were other cars out there that promised real fuel economy at a truly low price? Maybe not. I do like this little car, but I have always wanted an electric car or some other type of vehicle that would not use gasoline. But there is always that problem of paying through the nose for a car like this. The upfront cost of most of these cars is so high that it forces the average person to look at the same old crap that the Big Three auto makers in Detroit continue to foist onto the world. Michigan was once the automotive capital of the world and now it is becoming a ghost town caused by the lack of vision of GM, FORD, and Chrysler.

Despite the fact that they have great design teams who come out with prototypes that make people go crazy from excitement, they NEVER, NEVER, NEVER deliver any of these fantastic cars. Insanity! I come from a General Motors family. Almost every member of my family worked for General Motors. The vehicle I am driving now is a gas guzzling 2006 Saturn VUE. As soon as my Smart Car becomes available, I will get rid of the VUE thus ending my loyalty to a brand that put bread on my table only because GM sold me a car that makes it almost impossible to keep bread on my table and money in my wallet and has never offered an alternative vehicle for sale that makes the lives of lower income people a little easer.

All of these pie in the sky cars like the Clever, the Aptera, the Chevy Volt, and countless other cars that promise the moon but cost far more than what the average person can make are useless at the price they are being offered. I find it ironic that in a world where we can now manufacture something like an iPhone that is a technological masterpiece at such a low cost comparatively speaking to phones of the past that cost much more that the automakers continually insist that the production cost of a vehicle can never be brought down without sacrificing quality. BULL. The automotive industry has had well over 100 years or R&D and yet still cannot break the 29MPG barrier for a “family” car? Cannot or will not?

Airplanes have been around for less time and have advanced far more than the automobile. In just 66 years after the moment the Wright Brothers made their first flight, we landed on the moon with the Apollo 11. Think about it people. We went from an aircraft that was not much more than a gas engine powered kite to a 6 million pound rocket that WENT TO THE MOON in just 66 years! And yet somehow we can’t make a car that costs $8,000 and gets 100 miles to the gallon? Don’t blame the public for this by saying that what was built is what was wanted by the public. Nobody I knew wanted any of the cars that were built back in the 1980’s, but that was all that was available back then.

None of the auto companies have ever been truly innovative. They keep falling back on old ideas and are killing the world with global warming and hyper inflation in fuel prices. And who pays the price for their mistakes? Us.