Patrick is right on track with his WTW and PTW comparison. Anyone who has followed the XPRIZE events can smell something wrong in the EV arena, and it isn't just overheated battery packs. All those EV's lined up plugged in to a recharger after each event like junkies at a hippie fest.
I think the most practical car is the BITW Technologies' entry. Sure, it isn't as slick as an Aptera or even those Edison 2's but would you really trust one of those on a long trip or even just around town? Don't let the 51.1 mpge throw you off. Their car gets much better mileage than that figure suggests. Do many know that this team completed all three efficiency events with their economy systems disabled? Go to the BITW Technologies blog for an explanation. When the events were completed George Voll drove his car off the track and straight to his home 350 miles away, at 60-70 mph normal driving averaging nearly 70 mpg actual. I would really like to buy a car like it.
The BITW Team of country boys created an automobile for less than $10,000, nearly all self-funded, and competed against the big money teams. I would say that if the rules had not been changed early on to favor the electric cars with short tests this car would have been the only one left still operational. It's a daily driver and George Voll has put over 17,000 actual road miles on it in the past year or so with no failures. Same engine, same transmission. No Mickey Mousing with "virtual" mpg figures. This is the kind of car many of us really want for a daily driver. One we can drive to work or to the grocery while not requiring a complete replacement of the entire World's fuel infrastructure and that won't leave us out in the middle of New Mexico with nary a recharger in sight.
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