New Yorker

I love EVs, 'cept their not marketed right. For millions of Americans, they are the perfect second car. The car you drive 5-25 miles to work every day and back. Range is not an issue. You have your first car for that.

Nubo

As a recent LEAF purchaser I assure you it's not any more of a "golf cart" than many other gas-powered hatchbacks on the road. Surely, it doesn't handle like an RX-8 but then again few cars do. But it's more than adequate, as is the performance. With 100% torque off the line it squirts through city traffic quite nicely. It gets up to highway speed reasonably well and has enough power to pass. Top speed is 94 mph (I've heard ) and it gets there easily enough. Could do more but thats redline for the single-speed (somewhere around 14,500 rpm iirc).

If you appreciate the rotary engine, you might want to consider that the electric motor is really the ultimate "rotary engine" which Wankel tried to emulate. All of the virtues are there -- smooth power delivery, high rpm, minimum of moving parts. And in this case, PURE rotary motion. No dead spots, no misses, no hesitation. Instantaneous translation between your foot and the rubber on the road. It really is quite lovely to drive. About the only departure is torque. It's all there off the line as opposed to the Wankel, which has to reach out to the top third of its RPM range to find. Sure, that's fun in its own right but traffic with a rotary can be a chore.

As far as miserly driving, one admittedly does need to square their needs with the current range availability in electric cars. For me, my normal commute is 30 miles round trip. I have no need to be a slouch. I ride in the fast lane, and the carpool lane (as permitted in CA). I still have far more range than I need, and typically only charge to 80%.

If you haven't actually driven one I'd highly recommend a test drive. You might find the "pure rotary" experience attractive, as I did. And at some point when electric power is available in an affordable sports car then we'll REALLY have something! I would love to see an electric MX-5!

Rx8vsMalibu

I really like the Volt. Can get you to work and back strictly on electricity (within 40 miles), but it wont leave you stranded if something comes up. And the styling actually makes it look like a car, instead of a "tropical fish."

MEJazz

On another note, i always thought that a Rotary is best powered by electricity - not gas. Essentially use a regular elctro-magnetic motor with electricity than trying to force it to run on gas. Back then when they invented the rotary, an electric motor in a car was not feasible but we're there now.