Not a head turner but Mitsubishi’s new “buggy” MIEV all electric car is one of the best EV car deals
The year 2012 has been a mixed year as far as the success of various models of electric cars and hybrid cars go. Regarding the Middle East, where the luxury Fisker Karma electric vehicle hit the Middle East though a dealer in Dubai, Fisker cars in the USA were under consider pressure following news about some Fisker cars catching fire. This allegation, which involved at least 15 Fisker Karmas burning up at a storage lot in New Jersey during the hurricane Sandy mega storm, was later challenged on Green Prophet by a Fisker Karma owner himself who debunked the allegations of the $130,000 cars being fire hazards.
Although owned by both Leo Di Caprio and Justin Beiber, Fisher Karma luxury plug in hybrids had an ill fated year in 2012.
Perhaps the most controversial electric car news in 2012 dealt with the fortunes or misfortunes of the Better Place electric car network company, whose founder and international CEO Shai Agassi was fired in October by the company’s board of directors due to the company losing large sums of money following its lackluster launch in Israel. Agassi started up the company in 2008 and received widespread attention with his concept of providing a country-wide network of battery charging and exchange stations for his Renault Fluence all electric vehicles. When finally launched in January, 2012, less than 700 of these cars were actually sold to Israeli buyers; including some who were interviewed by Green Prophet.
Chevy’s Volt, a “plug in hybrid”has received very good reviews
Despite these setbacks, there was some good electric car news in America as reported in a previous article about the Best Electric Cars of 2012 . Three of these cars include the luxury Tesla Motors sports roadsters and sports coupes, Nissan’s all electric Leaf model and GM’s Chevrolet Volt plug in hybrid model. While the $100,000 + Tesla models may be too rich for the blood of most mar buyers, the Leaf and Volt models both received good reviews by auto news writers as well by car owners themselves. Mitsubishi also launched its new electric MIEV minicar
which sells in the U.S. for the more reasonable price of $ 21,695; a sum considerably less than the price of both the Leaf and the Volt.
Toyota conceived its new RAV4 EV model together with Tesla Motors
The new year of 2013 may prove to be a good year for both all electric and electric hybrid models as several new models will be arriving. Some of these include an all-electric version of the GM Chevrolet Spark ; an all-electric version of Ford’s popular Focus compact model; and an all electric version of Toyota’s RAV4 model. The RAV4 EV is a project Toyota worked on together with Tesla Motors.
For those living in Europe and the UK, and possibly in the Middle East as well, Renault’s new ZOE all electric car may be the best choice of them all. The car is the same size as Renault’s Cleo and has stylish lines which are much more pleasing to the eye than the Mitsubishi MIEV. The price of this car, around $21,840 USD is also attractive. The ZOE recently won a Future Car Challenge award in the UK against other economical “eco cars”.
Renault’s new ZOE all electric car wins Future Efficiency Car race in the UK
Whether all of these new models will be sold in the Middle East still remains to be seen; especially in Israel where the future of Better Place and its electric car service network still remains very much in doubt.
Read more about electric and hybrid cars:
The Best Electric Cars of 2012 According to the American Buzz
Fisker Karma Owner Aims to Debunk Fire Hazard Stories
Is There a Fire Hazard in Fisker Karma Electric Super Cars?
We Interview Better Place Car Owners in Israel
Shai Agassi Fired From Better Place Electric Car Company
Author: Maurice Picow
Maurice Picow grew up in Oklahoma City, U.S.A., where he received a B.S. Degree in Business Administration. Following graduation, Maurice embarked on a career as a real estate broker before making the decision to move to Israel. After arriving in Israel, he came involved in the insurance agency business and later in the moving and international relocation fields. Maurice became interested in writing news and commentary articles in the late 1990’s, and now writes feature articles for the The Jerusalem Post as well as being a regular contributor to Green Prophet. He has also written a non-fiction study on Islam, a two volume adventure novel, and is completing a romance novel about a forbidden love affair. Writing topics of particular interest for Green Prophet are those dealing with global warming and climate change, as well as clean technology - particularly electric cars.
