Low-Speed Electric Vehicles Are Great & Available Today!

Original Source: http://planetgreen.discovery.com
Author:Seth Leitman
Original Publication Date:Wed Mar 04

Electric vehicles are not just for the rich and you can buy one pretty much anywhere.

Low-speed vehicles (LSVs) or neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs) are priced at between $8,000 and $10,000 and only go 25 miles per hour. When I worked for the State of New York, after the full-performance electric cars were recalled by the automakers, I worked to place several thousand low-speed electric vehicles in the state. They were mostly the GEM cars from Daimler-Chysler and the TH!NK Neighbor.

FYI, the GEM car still is available and the TH!NK is not. Today, there are well over 20,000 low-speed / neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs) on the road. While these electric vehicles are not on-road (highway) vehicles, they reduce vehicle emissions. That has an effect.

From Battery Park City to the Town Niagara, from the State University of New York at Albany to Staten Island Zoo, these electric vehicles were great in city / campus based applications. While the doors for those vehicles were not appropriate for the Northeast, many low-speed electric vehicles today have enclosures that are like doors. ZENN and Miles Electric Vehicles for example are better suited for year round vehicles in colder climates.

Where Low Speed Vehicles Work

While they are only allowed on roads that do not exceed 35 miles per hour, there are plenty of areas in the country where they work just fine. They are and were perfect for university campuses, large facilities that need zero-emission in-door vehicles, shuttles in corporate multi-building campuses, and even the military. A low-speed electric car can be a popular second car in two-vehicle households. These low-cost EVs are fine for those who will compromise on speed and range. Reasonably priced new vehicles are coming with few compromises and many exciting features.

Today, there are also low speed vehicles, such as the ZENN car that look more like an actual car for many applications. With the ever increasing LSV market, electric cars are increasing significantly worldwide.

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