Why do electric cars have to LOOK like electric cars?
Discussion
This is a bit of a rant really, and I probably know the answer already, but hey ho.
Anyway, I was browsing electric cars yesterday, because I'm hopefully going to be in a decent job soon and I like the idea of owning an electric car (as well as something fun), as I'll probably have a bit of a commute. So I'm wondering what choice there is in terms of reasonably sized electric cars, turns out you can have either a focus, a golf, or a leaf. Fair enough, the market isn't huge yet, I get that.
So anyway, I went on their respective 'car configurator' pages to see what the options are like. As a designer, I find this part quite frustrating - car marque websites are awful to navigate, but that's for another rant... So to find the leccy focus, you have to scroll past ALL of the others, and the little avatar sits right next to the Focus RS, but a grand more expensive... So straight away I'm thinking, you know what, f
k it, I'd rather have an RS. I selected the leccy car anyway, and then came the frustrating bit.
I wonder what alloys I could have? (I'm looking at both the golf and the focus here) Oh, there's only the one, and they're the ugly-as-sin ones that absolutely scream "I drive something extremely mundane, but I want it to look flash". Great. How about colours? Maybe that'll redeem it somewhat? Ah yes, any colour so long as it's grey. And why must all electric cars have strips of blue LEDs on the front bumper? Why must the whole world know that the car is electric? Why must electric cars look either incredibly boring or ugly? Why can it not just look like a car? You know, like a normal car? I mean, there's nothing inherently 'diesel' looking about any diesel car, so why is electric different? I don't want to drive around in something that screams "look how mundane my car is, but i'm saving the planet because it's electric!".
Tesla seem to be the only people getting it right, in my opinion. It's just a lovely looking car.
Am I just a grumpy sod, or does anyone else agree with me?
Anyway, I was browsing electric cars yesterday, because I'm hopefully going to be in a decent job soon and I like the idea of owning an electric car (as well as something fun), as I'll probably have a bit of a commute. So I'm wondering what choice there is in terms of reasonably sized electric cars, turns out you can have either a focus, a golf, or a leaf. Fair enough, the market isn't huge yet, I get that.
So anyway, I went on their respective 'car configurator' pages to see what the options are like. As a designer, I find this part quite frustrating - car marque websites are awful to navigate, but that's for another rant... So to find the leccy focus, you have to scroll past ALL of the others, and the little avatar sits right next to the Focus RS, but a grand more expensive... So straight away I'm thinking, you know what, f
k it, I'd rather have an RS. I selected the leccy car anyway, and then came the frustrating bit.I wonder what alloys I could have? (I'm looking at both the golf and the focus here) Oh, there's only the one, and they're the ugly-as-sin ones that absolutely scream "I drive something extremely mundane, but I want it to look flash". Great. How about colours? Maybe that'll redeem it somewhat? Ah yes, any colour so long as it's grey. And why must all electric cars have strips of blue LEDs on the front bumper? Why must the whole world know that the car is electric? Why must electric cars look either incredibly boring or ugly? Why can it not just look like a car? You know, like a normal car? I mean, there's nothing inherently 'diesel' looking about any diesel car, so why is electric different? I don't want to drive around in something that screams "look how mundane my car is, but i'm saving the planet because it's electric!".
Tesla seem to be the only people getting it right, in my opinion. It's just a lovely looking car.
Am I just a grumpy sod, or does anyone else agree with me?
I've been asking this for a while. If you want to clean up car emissions then you have to get the people who are most likely to be driving dirty vehicles to buy clean ones. Sadly, affordably priced 'eco' cars all look like some toy that a young mumsy woman would give a small child to play with in the bath. Only the BMW i8 and Tesla Model S really look like credible substitutes for the kind of cars that really need to be replaced by cleaner machines, but they're unaffordable for most people. When affordable green cars look sporty, muscular and masculine then we'll start to make some progress. Until then they'll only be bought by people who have beards and wear their sister's jeans.
MitchT said:
I've been asking this for a while. If you want to clean up car emissions then you have to get the people who are most likely to be driving dirty vehicles to buy clean ones. Sadly, affordably priced 'eco' cars all look like some toy that a young mumsy woman would give a small child to play with in the bath. Only the BMW i8 and Tesla Model S really look like credible substitutes for the kind of cars that really need to be replaced by cleaner machines, but they're unaffordable for most people. When affordable green cars look sporty, muscular and masculine then we'll start to make some progress. Until then they'll only be bought by people who have beards and wear their sister's jeans.
Glad to know I'm not alone. I'd consider a golf if it came with some decent alloys and colours other than grey... Oh and the stupid blue LEDs.The electric Passats and Golfs I saw in Amsterdam really didn't look massively different to the most Golfs and Passats you see every day.
And there were tons of them. Everywhere. And places to charge them.
And Outlander PHEVs
And Teslas. As Taxis!
Loads of them, in the city.
Oh and a Fisker Karma.
It's the attitude of the buyers over there which must be different to us over here - which I guess must also be in part due to some incentives or other being given to the buyers as to why they would want to choose them
And there were tons of them. Everywhere. And places to charge them.
And Outlander PHEVs
And Teslas. As Taxis!
Loads of them, in the city.
Oh and a Fisker Karma.
It's the attitude of the buyers over there which must be different to us over here - which I guess must also be in part due to some incentives or other being given to the buyers as to why they would want to choose them
HustleRussell said:
I know it's a hybrid but I was with a Honda CR-X recently and I thought it looked great so maybe there is hope.
Not trying to be an arse, but is their a Honda crx hybrid? I absolutely loved the CRX when I was a young lad, definitely ahead of their time. could it have been a Crz?Baryonyx said:
They look like that because it's cool. I love the visual distinction from the cooking petrol or diesel models. They've got some cool technology in them so why not show it off?
Look cool! 
Well each to their own!
Cool is the last thing they look IMHO -
It seems to be all about shouty tree-hugging credentials - the buyers want everyone to know they are saving the planet (using electricity produced by CO2 generating power stations - oops that doesn't sit well)!
I've just returned from a week in Oslo where electric cars are almost as prevalent as conventional ones. Aside from the i3 (and the funny little Peugeot iON) they all look like normal road cars.
The number of Tesla S' over there is quite staggering, but there were also plenty of e-Golfs, e-Ups, A3-eTrons.
Considering 1 in 3 cars sold in Norway are now EVs it doesn't look like some futuristic space port, most of them are entirely conventional looking.
The number of Tesla S' over there is quite staggering, but there were also plenty of e-Golfs, e-Ups, A3-eTrons.
Considering 1 in 3 cars sold in Norway are now EVs it doesn't look like some futuristic space port, most of them are entirely conventional looking.
ukaskew said:
I've just returned from a week in Oslo where electric cars are almost as prevalent as conventional ones. Aside from the i3 (and the funny little Peugeot iON) they all look like normal road cars.
The number of Tesla S' over there is quite staggering, but there were also plenty of e-Golfs, e-Ups, A3-eTrons.
Considering 1 in 3 cars sold in Norway are now EVs it doesn't look like some futuristic space port, most of them are entirely conventional looking.
I think it may have something to do with taxation in Norway.......The number of Tesla S' over there is quite staggering, but there were also plenty of e-Golfs, e-Ups, A3-eTrons.
Considering 1 in 3 cars sold in Norway are now EVs it doesn't look like some futuristic space port, most of them are entirely conventional looking.
ALTO77 said:
Not trying to be an arse, but is their a Honda crx hybrid?... could it have been a Crz?
I'm sure our comrade meant to say 'CRZ'. I still think that car is/was a missed opportunity. It's a good looking car but has such a weedy engine.If they'd done a version with some more power which when combined with the electric assistance would equal the performance of a Type-R then it would be a much more interesting car and given them a proper halo effect for their hybrid systems.
As for the original question, the correct answer as has been already noted is that the cars are deliberately styled differently to allow the owners to be smug, I bet they make a big song and dance about plugging in their car to charge when out with their friends.
Truckosaurus said:
ALTO77 said:
Not trying to be an arse, but is their a Honda crx hybrid?... could it have been a Crz?
I'm sure our comrade meant to say 'CRZ'. I still think that car is/was a missed opportunity. It's a good looking car but has such a weedy engine.If they'd done a version with some more power which when combined with the electric assistance would equal the performance of a Type-R then it would be a much more interesting car and given them a proper halo effect for their hybrid systems.
As for the original question, the correct answer as has been already noted is that the cars are deliberately styled differently to allow the owners to be smug, I bet they make a big song and dance about plugging in their car to charge when out with their friends.
And to answer the original question (although it's already been said) the Renault ZOE is what you need. Looks relatively normal.
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