EDITOR IN CHIEF
“My first customer was a lunatic. My second had a death wish.” – Karl Benz
I recently had the occasion to test drive several different electric vehicles in successive weeks and for the most part, I was very impressed. While driving a gasoline or diesel-powered vehicle is still my personal go-to at this point, I think we can all agree there is nothing quite like the instantaneous torque you feel from behind the wheel of an EV. It is truly the closest thing to an amusement park ride we can experience from inside an automobile. Of course, for more traditional car lovers like me, it doesn’t get any better than the sweet sound of a Porsche flat-six at redline, or the rampant bark of a V12 Ferrari engine. It’s the stuff of legend. But for pure get up and go, electric is hard to beat. So why am I not completely sold on buying an elec- tric vehicle? I believe the two main reasons are still what they have been all along: range and price. In the city where I live, there are very few options available for charging an EV with a DC fast char- ger. In fact, with a population of approximately 450,000 people in the surrounding region, my little slice of North America has a total of two DC Fast Chargers, and one is 23 km (14 miles) from my home. Driving an EV is fun, and I feel good sitting behind the wheel with the belief I am less- ening my carbon footprint. But range is always on my mind, so it’s never a truly relaxing experience. Fully charged and ready to go with 432 km’s avail- able, I unplugged my latest test vehicle from the ChargePoint station and headed away with the intent of driving on a single charge for the next
five days. I planned to manage my driving habits accordingly, with mostly city driving on the sched- ule. No sooner had I driven 150 metres (500 ft) and I was down to 418 km. By the time I reached home 6 minutes later, I was down to 402 km. I guess a kilometre of driving is not what it used to be. As for price, well I don’t think we need to have a detailed discussion as it’s pretty common know- ledge that buying an EV at this time in history is both expensive and the wait for delivery can take months, if not years. So where is all of this going? Are electric vehicles really a long term solution for humanity? At the recent 44th International Motor Symposium held in Vienna, Austria, various automakers discussed their plans for a better world of driv- ing. The consensus was and should be a balanced approach to powering our vehicles is required, it can’t just be a hard switch from fuel-burning to electric power. With the ultimate goal of deliv- ering clean, earth-friendly power alternatives now and for future generations, it’s going to take some time to figure it all out. The final winning combin- ation has yet to be determined, but we are moving in the right direction. In this issue Mark Richardson takes us on the last ride of the gasoline-powered Jaguar F-Type and Senior Editor Dan Heyman does the same in the Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato. It feels sad in a way, but in truth the best days of the automobile are still ahead of us. Enjoy the ride!
JEFF VOTH Editor In Chief | VICARIOUS jvoth@vicariousmag.com
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