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The GM Chevrolet Volt comes in at second place on the best electric cars list. Photo Gallery
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
2. GM Volt - range-extender electric production car
3. Mini E - electric trial production
4. Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid - trial production
5. Honda Clarity - fuel cell trial production
6. Mitsubishi iMiev - electric production car
7. Subaru Stella - electric production car
