Likely because they think they have a much better chance of selling the PHEV than the EV due to the much greater range, hence the emphasis on driving a longer distance to Tahoe. You can't drive the Focus EV to Point Reyes, Shasta or Lassen, or Tahoe on the weekend from the Bay area, and they likely see this as an unacceptable constraint.
If you've worked in the automotive industry for years focusing on performance of ice vehicles and surrounded by others doing the same, a vehicle with 75 mile range likely seems ridiculous. I'm continually surprised at the surprise of people on this forum at the reaction of such people to EVs. Those people don't drive an EV, spend their time thinking and writing about EVs, and talking to others who drive EVs like you do. They are not immersed in the world of EVs, rather, they are immersed in the world of ice vehicles with expectations set by years of using such vehicles. Why would you expect them to think any differently? Sure you can use an EV for all local travel, trips within a 35 mile radius of home, or longer trips if stopping to charge away from home is acceptable to you and there is a charging station on the way or at your destination. But that all seems quite inconvenient compared to jumping in your ice vehicle and going without concern of how far, whether you will be able to get fuel if you need it, or needing to take an hour or more to refuel since most would charge from level 2. Most people are not EV advocates, and though they may say they care about the environment, they aren't willing to spend any of their money to do anything to prevent damage to it. They just self-justify to convince themselves there is no reason to do so. An EV is just another car to them, which they compare to other cars for performance and convenience. At the current level of EV performance/cost there needs to be other motivating factors, such as (real) concern for the environment, the desire for something new and different, etc., that compensate for the difference in performance in order for a person to want to purchase one. That will change if price and performance approach that of ice vehicles, and/or the price of gas becomes very painfully high. -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/Plugin-advertising-experienced-tp4661653p4661655.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
