Electric Vehicle Design

I’m always interested in what the folks in electric vehicle auto design come up with.  Common wisdom dictates an approach in which an EV driver makes a bold and clear statement of his choice — and his environmental consciousness — to the world around him. And, from a design perspective, this isn’t at all hard to accomplish (but of course, that’s easy for me to say).  Simply building something a bit smaller and more aerodynamic than our standard coupes and sedans of the early 21^st Century gets the job done nicely, while extending range and thus improving driver convenience.  The recently unveiled four-passenger electric car (pictured here) designed by a team of entrepreneurs based near Paris, called NEOMA, is a terrific example — though some might find it a bit extreme.

It appears that the product teams in the largest and most sophisticated OEMs (GM, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Nissan, etc.) want to “split the difference,” designing EVs that are noticeably different from their internal combustion counterparts, but sufficiently close so as to appeal to people who wish to be less conspicuous in the automotive choices.

I hav no market research that supports my belief, but I have to think that most EV early adopters are proud of what they’re doing – and want to tell others, if for no other reason than to announce the availability of EVs to a world that has anxiously awaited this moment for quite some time.

Design approaches that completely miss this chance mystify me, to be honest. Coda is the example that most immediately comes to mind. As shown on their website, the Coda design team has deliberately built a car that few people will be able to distinguish as an EV.  They have some pretty smart people over there – and an incredible sum of investment capital. How well will this contrarian design strategy work out?  Have they simply lost an important opportunity?  We’ll see.