Electric Cars

So the electric car (outside of Tesla) is pretty boring. You have your Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt, Cadillac ELR (dead), Ford Focus Electric, BMW i3, and so on. What do these cars all have in common? They're econoboxes stuffed with batteries and electric motors that offer point A to point B transportation and ZERO thrill. These electrified commuter cars are downright boring. How do you get interest in electric cars? To me the answer, which some start up companies are pursuing, is to build a fast, high power, electric sports car. Throughout our history of automotive innovation the one thing that has absolutely driven development is racing. Through racing we have pushed the internal combustion engine to its limits and I think the time has come to move on. As an enthusiast we need an enthusiast car. We need an entry level all electric (or even a hybrid) sports car. There's one startup company (I named earlier) that has been able to successfully pull this off and although they've been successful they still have a LONG way to go. When is one of the big 3 going to step in and offer an electric sports car? We've seen high end manufacturers begin to trickle F1 technology into their hyper car's drivetrains (think Porsche 918, Ferrari LaFerarri, Mclaren P1 pictured above, Acura NSX, Mercedes One pictured below). How exciting would it be to see an AWD (or RWD), balanced, torque rich hybrid or electric sports car for $35,000? Would this be something you would buy over say a Mustang GT or a Civic Type R? Maybe... With electric motors you're able to have instantaneous gob stopping amounts of torque. Given our current battery technology you would be able to drive the car for a relatively long range OR have an ungodly powerband for sprints around the local autocross course. If you were to combine an electric motor with a small turbo four cylinder you can easily compensate turbo lag while producing V8 power and doubling your mpg. I think we need to go back to the 60's ideology of win on Sunday and sell on Monday. With the introduction of a new electric sports car, manufacturers could provide a new racing series or join an existing one and start dominating the competition. This would give enthusiasts like myself a chance to buy an electric car someone would actually enjoy driving while driving innovation through our racing spirit. What do you think? Would you buy an electric sports car?