Quote:
Originally Posted by Isaac Zackary
Imagine if in the early days of the automobile people decided not to try different technologies because they weren't the absolute best for their time period? Hitler told Ferdinand Porsche that he wanted him to develop a 4WD, front engine, water cooled diesel car as the original "Kraft durch Freude" car. Was that the absolute best tech at that time? Sounds like it to me. Would it have sold like the VW Beetle ended up selling? Doubt it!
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In the end the rear-engined RWD layout provided some reasonable off-road ability, at a considerably lower cost than 4WD would. When it comes to ICE vs. EV, the same way a Diesel engine small enough to fit into a Beetle and as easy to service as the boxer while providing comparable performance wasn't available by then, cost of batteries and their tollerance to temperature oscillation might lead an EV unsuitable to some perspective users.