Blogger Barret Lyon, who writes at Verbophobia, tried to buy a plug-in electric conversion PT Cruiser, being sold by a startup company.
My lawyer and I hired a superstar electrical engineering expert named Art MacCarley, Ph.D., PE., who happens to be the Department Chair of the Electrical Engineering department at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Dr. MacCarley drove to my house and spent the entire day meticulously going through the car.
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Art put it very politely, but basically he was saying that college students could have built this car better than EV Innovations ( a publicly traded company). Attached to this article is the full report written by Dr. MacCarley.
It turned out so bad that he wound up suing them under the Lemon Law, and settling out of court at a loss of $20,000.
This underscores the point that making reliable, affordable, safe, and refined cars of any type (gas or electric) is an extremely tricky business.
Don't be in a hurry. When the good stuff gets here, you'll know it. In the meantime, drive a nice gas-electric hybrid, if you must have an electrified car.