AJI -
Quote:
Originally Posted by AJI
Apologies for digging the thread up, but better this than starting a new one on the same subject.
Surprises me how little love there seems to be for these electric concepts, given not only how important they are (Renault is making a massive commitment and taking quite a risk releasing four EVs all at the same time), but also that most of the criticism seems to be aimed at their styling, in a forum that likes the Prius and likes Geo Metros and Honda Civics covered in bits of coroplast... 
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I think your statement dovetails nicely into what I just read at the Edison2 blog :
Edison2: The Very Light Car (X PRIZE Contender) - The Very Light Blog
Quote:
The car I liked the most is ironically an electric car. The Audi E-tron 2. It is distinguished by its small and clean shape. It is a niche car with impressive (by electric car standards) performance standards. They confirmed that their 0-60 record times can only be done a very few times in a row. I guess that is physics.
I thought that all the companies – Toyota, Audi, GM, etc – are somewhat time inappropriate as they are still rolling out ever larger more feature ridden examples of the same idea. However in auto introduction what we see today is what was laid out 2 to 4 years ago.
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I found the above when I was reading this thread :
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ery-11841.html
I think you are seeing a predominately engineer's POV, aka form follows function. In this case, the form of the car does not follow the function of aerodynamic improvement, so the form is bad.
For the record, I understand your POV. The big boys are trying, but they're (literally) dragging all their baggage with them (and putting it into the trunk, making everything even heavier). They feel they *have* to provide a car that supplies at least all of the amenities of a compact car because they think they can't make money without meeting that standard.
CarloSW2