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Re-activateThe natural follow-up to range anxiety, range envy is the electric-car equivalent to gasoline gearheads boasting about horsepower, 0-to-60 speed, and such. How far can you go on a charge? How long can you last? How long does it take you to recharge?
Range, along with charge time, has been the showstoppers for electric cars up until now. And with more and more companies entering the electric car space, we're seeing a wider range of compromises and solutions on these issues. For example, Tesla simply uses a giant battery in a tiny car to get a long range. Ford, with its upcoming Focus EV, is using a faster charger, so it's easier to get more miles in a day. And General Motors added a whole gas engine to its Chevrolet Volt.
One of our staffers suggested the killer app for electric cars is a big backup battery you can charge at home and carry with you in the car, like you might for a cell phone or laptop. But electric car batteries weigh thousands of pounds and even their chargers cost thousands of dollars. Plus if it takes you eight hours to charge one car battery, when are you going to charge the backup? It seems to me a much more economical killer app is a backup gas generator. I've even seen early EV adopters follow this approach with gas-powered trailers that they hook up to their electric cars for long trips, although this approach can also be problematic.
If you own an electric car, or have ever thought of buying one, what would your killer app be?
–Eric Evarts
See our guide to fuel economy for advice on saving gasoline. Learn about future technologies in our guide to alternative fuels.
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