Get your Nissan Leaf - $25,000!

[cfg83]

Old Tele man -

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

...true, but at least it's an electric catfish! (wink,wink)

Ha ha, sounds like the name of a band.

CarloSW2

[bennelson]

Originally Posted by Ryland

every year new cars look new and weird.

Said the guy driving a green wedge!


Would would totally drive a Ford Catfish. Or a Honda Electric Eel. (The E.E.L. would have FANTASTIC streamlining...)

[NiHaoMike]

I remember that Bill Nye once said that fish have adapted to be very streamlined so a car that is shaped like a fish would be very efficient.

[bennelson]

Bill Nye is a neighbor of Ed Begley, Jr., who my brother once sat next to at the airport and talked with him about my electric car. Which means I still have absolutely no relation to Kevin Bacon.

The boxfish has actually been used as inspiration for concept cars.

I guess a Boxfish would most likely be made by Scion?

[tdibubble]

Toyota Xbox, comes complete with 360, wifi connection and an inflatable bubble for anti theft!

[roflwaffle]

Originally Posted by bennelson

Just imagine, in California, you could get the Leaf for just a hair over $20,000, and drive in the car-pool lane all by yourself!

$16,000 if you're in the SCAQMD and get selected to have your old clunker retired. I just hope all the roadster buyers don't hoover up this tax credit too. It seems like a waste to subsidize the rich.

[Toby]

Why do the automakers shy away from smooth wheels? Is it just an appearance issue?

Are they expecting this electric car to require massive break ventilation?

I'm sure there are appealing visual designs that could be created with a smooth or near-smooth wheel. In fact, almost everybody has aluminum wheels with slender spokes by now.

[RobertSmalls]

I can picture the lawsuit already. Some nice lady who didn't read the owners manual and didn't pay attention in Physics class descends a mountain uses her friction brakes the whole way down. The brakes overheat and fade, she doesn't know of any way to slow the car down besides the middle pedal, and she kills her whole family. If I were an automaker, that's why I'd be afraid to go with completely smooth wheels.

But the five-spoke wheels on the Leaf are obviously overkill for cooling the brakes, especially when the car has powerful regen brakes and a huge battery to store that energy in. I guess it's an appearance thing.

[gasstingy]

I think the car is attractive enough. The wheels? Come on, a good many people believe that an EV will catch on quicker if it isn't too odd to Joe Bag of Donuts. The wheels are similar to the more popular wheels on most everything on the market.

I hope it outsells even Nissan's most wildly optomistic projections and makes all the other manufacturers jealous enough to actually release their concept EV's.

[gone-ot]

...and, remember, all the automotive "bling" parts are exchangable, just look at a J.C.Whitney catalog or visit a local Pep Boys.

...after-market SEMA!