Electric vehicles are hot right now. So hot, that it doesn’t matter what they look like. Unfortunately, and this is simply my opinion, electric cars look ugly. What are the reasons?
Hybrids and the Competitive Market
Hybrids offer a lot of space. The concept was simply to deliver a vehicle that met the needs of those looking to save money on fuel. The use of both fuel and batteries gave drivers the ability to save money while cutting down on carbon emissions. These were the first vehicles of that type to hit the market. The egg-shape was a design to give drivers the impression of how the future will look. Toyota did a great job at really pushing the alternative industry in the right direction, unfortunately, over the past 10 years, the industry simply tried to “out-future” each other.
With the ever-growing electric car market, the Prius set the standard for what consumers were looking for. In places where the environment in more friendly to cars, the desire for added features wasn’t preferred in the mindset of new car buyers. They were looking for something that could save them gas while commuting to work. Areas of the world that aren’t as drastically impacted as others saw that these little cars were the perfect fit for them. Especially in states like California where vehicles have to pass a much stricter emissions standard, having an electric car was a great solution. Consumers in these areas are more environmentally conscious by proxy. They have seen the impacts of emissions and have implemented extensive measures to reduce their footprint. At the time of the Prius’s release, this was the best solution.
Each automotive company tried its hand in the hybrid race by designing similar vehicles to the Prius. The image stuck and designers have been using this as a foundation for electric vehicles. The idea is to showcase the future and that is okay.
The First Generation of Electric Vehicles
The first generation of EV’s is to hit the market soon. With Tesla already in the lead, they have been able to produce a car that not only looks sharp to consumers but provides the energy to compete with sports cars. This was critical when the new company set out to not only compete but to establish a new automotive market.
In Europe, the concept of electric cars went hand in hand with the basic design of regular vehicles. With VW, Audi, BMW, and other Euro car makers simply implementing an electric battery into the car, the style didn’t need to change much. Consumers were simply looking for the same thing as their older ICE car but just electric.
Now, there have been a few additions to the market that we would like to point out. The first is the Tesla Cybertruck. With so many different designs to make this a front-runner of the electric pickup world, Tesla decided to switch gears and develop something that, yes, had the necessary power output that most truck owners look for, but made it so angular and “future” that nobody is literally going to buy one of these. Are you going to drop the money on a Tesla Cybertruck? Why not invest in something that doesn’t require “getting used to”? This is where the HUMMER EV comes in. Where Ford has yet to release a fully electric pickup truck, the HUMMER EV is an iconic shape and style with the power to leave the Cybertruck miles behind.
Conspiracy Theories Regarding Electric
Obviously money certainly helps provide direction for many companies. Big oil still has its noose tightening around consumer automotive. Many wonder why it took so long for other auto manufacturers to step into the electric game. This has happened before. GM developed the first electric car in the 90s. It was developed as a test for consumers in the EV market. Once the test was done, GM collected all of its EVs and crushed them.
While the majority of those who leased one wanted to outright purchase it when they found out, GM still went ahead and destroyed every one of them. Why not let those willing to pay for the car just outright pay the company and keep the car? Some say big oil had their hand in it. The 90s saw the increase in massive, gas-consuming SUVs. No way was big oil going to let the industry slip away from them. This is what many think may be the reason for the unappealing nature of electric cars.
Big oil still has a pretty hefty hand in the automotive world, and now they are seeing a full-fledged push away from their product. I can’t say for certain, but when I look at the Nissan Leaf next to literally any other electric vehicle rolling out this year, I have to wonder if there was an incentive to make it look that ugly.
