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Sure looks a lot like your father's Oldsmobile...
Electric cars were supposed to be the future – or at least look like it. So now they're here, why do they still look like ordinary petrol and diesel cars and not dazzling props from a science fiction film.
Before they hit the market and became relatively mainstream, many imagined (or at least, hoped) that electric cars would resemble the Light Runner from Tron: Legacy. After all, without the need for an internal combustion engine, an exhaust system and a fuel tank, electric car designers should have the creative freedom to rip up the rule book and create some truly eye-catching vehicles.
But this hasn't really happened. Park a Renault Zoe next to a Renault Clio, for example, and compare the two. While there are subtle differences and styling cues that suggest the Zoe is electric and the Clio isn't, the overall body form is strikingly similar. In fact, the Zoe is assembled on the same production line as the Clio and Nissan Micra.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @03:11PM (1 child)
But political meddling stopped the whole thing from taking off.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday January 14 2018, @03:15PM
It was the petroleum industry, who managed to externalize/defer the significant costs of their product and profit from the short-term cheap energy.
That, and solar cell technology was really lame in the 1970s.
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