The Spark is Gone: What’s Going On with Electric Cars

Last October, Audi announced that it was canning its R8 e-tron electric supercar, in development for three years, before a single vehicle came to market. While the R8 e-tron certainly wasn’t going to sell in huge volumes, its cancellation is just the latest setback in the electric car’s slow—some might say false—start. From all the hoopla, it looked like 2012 would be the year the electrification of the automobile shifted into top gear. Fisker was supposed to be selling a bumper crop of Karmas; the ­Nissan Leaf should have been moving in volumes that would justify Nissan’s decision to move production from Japan to Smyrna, ­Tennessee; and Tesla expected Model S ­deliveries to total 5000. But electric vehicles aren’t selling as most manufacturers thought they would. What short-circuited sales? READ MORE ››

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/caranddriver/blog/~3/P6Qjh0xomxE/the-spark-is-gone-whats-going-on-with-electric-cars-feature

Bill Homeier Kazuyoshi Hoshino Jerry Hoyt Nico Hülkenberg Denny Hulme