Electric Cars

Last year, Britain made ecological history by electing its first Green MP. However, this environmental friendliness is yet to transfer to the motoring world. Since the emergence of eco cars, there has been much ambiguity and confusion surrounding them. Or if, in fact, they have emerged yet at all.

Sales of electric cars have been poor, despite all efforts from the Government to incentivise eco-friendly drivers, who are entitled up to a £5,000 subsidy towards their purchase to hopefully attract a wider market. However, the initiative may come crashing to the ground as, unfortunately for the O-Zone, a recent survey by GfK Automotive concluded that a mere 1% of drivers want to buy an electric car, and have a relatively accurate understanding of costs and performance.

Up until very recently, electric cars had a reputation of being slow, unexciting transportation appliances (This despite the fact the fastest car in the world from 1898 to 1904 was a French electric car, the Jeantaud Duc.). Lately, though, battery-powered cars are starting to come across as legitimate performance cars, due in no small part to cars like the Tesla Roadster and the Mercedes-Benz SLS E-Cell.

Now Nissan seems to be jumping onto the exciting EV bandwagon. First was the Esflow concept, which premiered at the Geneva Motor Show last month, and now the company’s tuning arm, NISMO, has created a radical, widebody racing version of the Leaf that’s on display at the New York Auto Show. But it turns out there’s very little Leaf underneath.

Behaving like a caveman coming upon an iPad for the first time, my initial experience with the 2011 Lexus GS450h was as much disorienting as it was awe-inspiring. As I pushed the Start button, watching the telescoping wheel rise up (like Phoenix from the ashes?) and the dashboard illuminate, I waited for something to happen (hello?–earth to engine?). Nothing. Another try. Nada. After my 4th attempt the light bulb finally went on and I realized that this car, a hybrid variant of the strong-willed GS, actually starts silently (and I mean silently). It’s even absolutely quiet in reverse and at low speed cruising forward. But lest you now assume that the driving experience itself is a snoozefest of epic proportion, I can assure you that it is anything but…

In reality, the more svelte rear-wheel drive V8-powered GS460 must bow to the GS450h in the performance category, giving up 2/10ths of a second to the hybrid (which sprints from 0-60 mph in just 5.2 seconds). Fuel economy is rated at 22 mpg in the city and 25 mpg on the highway, so we’re not talking about a car that will encourage you to cancel your BP gas card anytime soon. No, sir. This is a car that uses its electrical prowess to supplement its gasoline counterpart and in the process delivers an unexpected and downright thrilling performance.