Electrification of the automobile is underway?.
….and Carsguide has driven the current heroes and hopefuls.
The Nissan Leaf tops the lot, and comes to Australia next year, but the
hydrogen-powered Honda Clarity is a game changer and the range-
extended GM Volt is also impressive.
What makes the Leaf so good is that it drives like a real car, not a
science experiment. It has a workable Corolla-sized cabin, rides and
handles well, and is quite spritely in traffic. Now we have to wait for
the showroom price and the essential detail on charging a battery car.
The
Clarity is still only in limited trials, but it's a workable fuel cell
car intended to show that hydrogen can be a genuine energy source for
transport.
Fuel cells were originally developed by NASA during the moon shot
program to generate electricity and, although still costly, they are
coming.
The Volt will become a Holden and
takes a fresh approach to motoring, using an onboard petrol engine to
help charge its batteries. It's genuinely electric and good to drive,
although likely to be expensive and with a cramped cabin.
After sampling a range of future cars, this is the current Carsguide pecking order:
1. Nissan Leaf - electric production car
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