It’s a shame that the author of this article didn’t do his homework.

Although he may not associate Chrysler with Electric Vehicles — many of us who own a Chrysler electric car feel differently.

He should know that GEM — a Chrysler Subsidiary — has been making and selling GEM Cars for over 10 years. And as far as being a sure failure? It’s already the best selling car in the LSV or NEV class, with over 35,000 GEM’s already on the road. I know, I drive one that I purchased two years ago. The GEM Peapod is only the latest design (not a concept car) in a well established line of GEM Cars. See http://www.gemcar.com for the ”older” style.

These are NEV’s or ”Neighborhood Electric Vehicles” and are speed limited to 25mph and legally restricted to roads of 35mph or under, but are street legal in most states. Most consumer end-users hack their GEM’s to go considerably faster. They have a range of anywhere from 25-40 miles depending on how much one ”tweaks” them, battery options, etc.

Also, despite the authors contention that specs aren’t published, they are well known. The specs for the gem will mirror approximately what is available in current GEM offerings. It’s 25mph with a 5 or 7 horsepower moter, two battery options, etc.

Although it must be tempting to bash Chrysler for not being ”eco”... they were making them GEM while all other automakers ignored the NEV market altogether.

Yes, you are right about the fact that the new GEM will pretty much have the same specs as the old ones in the market and my bad for not knowing that. But even that does not really improve things way too much. The official news is that the car needs good 6-8 hours for full charge and can run an average of 35 odd miles on a single charge. With its maximum speed being a poultry 25 mph, this still means that if I sit around for around 7 hours of charging, i get a ride of around an hour and 15 mins at max speed. Really not impressive! Admire your love for electric vehicles though...

When I looked into whether or not I should buy an electric car, I had two SUV’s. I work primarily in the home. Somewhere I found a statistic that said that 90-some-odd-percent of all travel by people was within 10 miles of their home. I started looking at my travel habits and found this to be true for me. I go shopping, I go to the corner store, I run over to a friends house, etc.

Let me put it this way: I didn’t change any of my driving habits. Except for one thing — when I drive long distances, I take my regular car. Everything else? I use the GEM. I’ve never changed my habits, I’ve never ”waited around for it to charge,” and I’ve never run out of battery while out and about.

The ”paltry” 25mph is frustrating, but is a byproduct of federal guidelines. There is a movement to increase this speed to 35mph. But I modified mine almost immediately and mine does over 35mph.

So... let me tell you what it saved me to not change my habits and drive a gem instead.

1. No gas cost.

2. Insurance is $80/year. That’s right, 80 bucks a year.

3. The vehicle was right at $10000 well equipt. I traded in a Nissan Frontier for it and used the ”equity” in my truck to pay entirely for the GEM.

4. It requires 2kwh to charge. Look at your power bill and see how insanely cheap that is.

My estimated cost saving is over $10,000 year in insurance, gas and cost of operation.

Automakers have traditionally tried to scare us with the range of electric vehicles... Over the next week or so, track how much you drive per day... you might be surprised.

Again, as for ”waiting for it to charge”... it doesn’t quite work that way. When I come home, I plug it in; an hour later I leave again and it’s charged a bit, maybe completely, from where it was. The 6-7 hours is from ”completely dead” to ”fully charged”. I’ve also learned which stores around me have ”opportunity charges,” or places where I can park at the local mall where there happens to be an outlet. So I can plug in while I shop. These are becoming much more available. It’s rare that I drive over 30 miles in a day... but even days when I drive exclusively the GEM, distances greater than it’s range-per-single-charge, I don’t run out of batteries. I just have to plug in when I can.

It doesn’t seem worth the substantial safety risk that you’re taking by driving a vehicle that isn’t required to meet safety standards, unlike the bigger vehicles with which you are at a substantial disadvantage in a collision. And that’s only compounded by the lunacy of hacking the governor so that you can go faster.

OTOH: At least you’re able to calculate how much your life is worth to you & apply that measure to other such trade-offs.

A mass Darwin Award might be in order for folks who regularly drive these vehicles on public roads.