1 / 1
As Porsche announces their plans for a high-performance electric vehicle, we take the opportunity to round up our top five environmentally-friendly road machines available in the market
Green is clearly the way to go on the road waving goodbye to CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions, and electric vehicles (EV) are lighter on the wallet as you replace the fluctuating sky-high prices of oil with electricity, and recognising the benefits car manufacturers such as Nissan, Mitsubishi, Chevrolet, Tesla and now, Porsche is paving the way and pioneering this trend. Asiatatler.com takes a look at the latest and greatest of these green machines, and look at why they deserve to be in your garage.
Porsche
Porsche's direction to go green was hinted earlier this year as they debuted their hybrid-drive system with three cars: Cayenne S Hybrid, 918 Spyder and 911 GT3 R Hybrid. So it came as no surprise when Porsche recently announced that it plans to take on Tesla by developing its own high performance electric sports cars. The German premium brand revealed in late July that it has already electrified three of its Boxster sports cars and is currently testing them in the city of Stuttgart, Germany.
The research cars are being used to test batteries and the new electric drive components developed by Porsche, as well as the infrastructure needed to make EV sports cars a reality. "We will definitely be offering electric sports cars in the future," said Michael Macht, the President and CEO of Porsche AG.
For more information visit: http://www.porsche.com
Tesla Roadster
The all-electric Roadster starts at HK$988,000 (inclusive of air freight from the UK) and unlike other EVs, the Tesla offers unparalleled sports car performance able to go from 0-60 miles in 3.7 seconds, a realistic range of 393 km, and a top speed of 120 miles per hour. Tesla's are like the Aston Martin of EVs, its Roadster 2.5 proves that design and power does not have to be compromised when going green.
For more information visit: www.teslamotors.com
Chevrolet Volt
The Volt is priced at somewhat of a premium to the Nissan LEAF, and is likely to be more expensive or on par with the Mitsubishi iMiEV.
It incorporates a small gas engine that can charge the batteries on the fly, it can deliver a "real world" range of 547 km. Although speed is unlikely to be a concern for any EV owners (apart from fans of EV sports car maker Tesla, perhaps), the Volt again comes first among the EVs of this range, with a top speed of 100 mph (161km/h) against the LEAF's 90 mph (145 km/h) and the iMiEV's 81 mph (130 km/h). General Motors claims the Volt takes four hours with a 240V outlet.
For more information visit: http://www.chevrolet.com/volt
Nissan Leaf
One of the first EVs to hit the market as part of Nissan's commitment to create a zero-emission society, this EV by Nissan is powered by advanced lithium-ion battery Nissan says the LEAF will charge in about eight hours with a 200V charger, and can be charged to 80% of its full capacity in 30 minutes, also boasting a range of 160 kilometres. Aesthetically, the design is very clean and compact.
For more information visit: http://www.nissan-zeroemission.com
Mitsubishi iMiEV
iMiEV stands for ‘Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle', this mini-car sits 4-5 passengers and has a turbo-charge 660cc engine. This car can be charged three-way, either from a household, parking lot or their quick-charge battery outlet, it boasts eight hours of charging time with a 200 volt charger and a range of 129 kilometers after a full charge.
For more information visit: http://www.mitsubishi-motors.com/special/ev/
