Low speed electrics are definitely going to get much more traction going forward in the next few years.
Low-speed vehicles (LSVs) or neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs) are priced at between $8,000 and $10,000. Moreover they and only go 25 miles per hour. When I worked for New York, after the full-performance electric cars were recalled by the automakers we did LSV’s. I mean, I worked to place several thousand low-speed electric vehicles in the state. They were mostly the GEM cars from DaimlerChrysler and the TH!NK Neighbor which was owned at the time by Ford Motor Company.
FYI, the GEM car still is available and the TH!NK is not.
Today, there are well over 20,000 low-speed / neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs) on the road.
While these electric vehicles are not on-road (highway) vehicles, they reduce vehicle emissions.
That has an effect.
From Battery Park City to the Town Niagara. Then from the State University of New York at Albany to Staten Island Zoo. Because these electric vehicles were great in city /campus based applications.
While the doors for those vehicles were not appropriate for the Northeast. So many low-speed electric vehicles today have enclosures that are like doors. ZENN and Miles Electric Vehicles for example are better suited for year round vehicles. Especially in colder climates.
There is talk about LSV in the stimulus package!