How ‘Bout Them $300 Million Batteries

Last week John McCain offered $300 Million for an electric car. See the article in the Washington Post here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/23/AR2008062300002.html

Now, I’m all for the electric car, and the good news is that the Lithium-ion batteries are already here.

Maybe if John McCain did his homework he would already know about the uber-cool Tesla (http://www.teslamotors.com/) which goes 0-60 in 3.6 seconds and gets the equivelant of 220 miles to the gallon.

If you want a high-performance sedan, then the Tesla Model S or Fisker Karma: http://www.automobilemag.com/auto_shows/2008_detroit/2010_fisker_premium_hybrid_sedan/index.html set to be released in 2009 might be more to your liking.

There’s also the Chevy Volt: http://www.chevrolet.com/electriccar/ which is scheduled to go into production in 2010.

What’s better is that this phenomenon is not limited to the United States. Indian manufacturer Reva has developed an electric vehicle for the Indian market (http://www.revaindia.com/)

The higher gas prices are pushing these products to market much faster, and I think in the end this is a good thing.

Of course, if your taste is more for the gas engines, there are still the high efficiency Prius, and Smart Cars getting up to 50 mpg.