While watching Motorweek on Saturday I learned that the Maryland Science Center was offering test drives(included with admission) of the
Maya 300 EV. The test drives were part of a marketing campaign for
Altcar, a car sharing program similar to Zipcar but with an all EV fleet.
The car was slightly smaller than my Yaris, but the interior felt bigger. There also seemed to be more cargo space in the back than the Yaris. The test loop was about 1/4 mile in downtown Baltimore and included two traffic lights and a bunch of pedestrian crossings. The acceleration felt similar to the Yaris but the top speed is only about 30 mph. One problem is that the motor rocks quite a bit when you press and let off the go pedal.
On my test drive, I hit both green lights and the drive was over too quickly. After I was done, I went to the back seat and let my brother take his turn. He hit one red light and a bunch of pedestrians jumped out in front of us. All that stopping and starting made the motor rocking really noticeable. And the back seat was pretty comfortable.
Here are a few pictures from my camera phone:
