Electric Cars’ Secret Advantage: They’re Just Nicer To Drive
Plug-in electric cars are now on sale from several carmakers,
and their sales will rise slowly over the next decade.  Right
now, most of the marketing for those electric cars focuses on
green themes or cost savings on the gasoline drivers don’t have
to buy.  Nissan Leaf  image copyright EarthTechling  But there’s
one factor no electric-car maker has yet used to market cars
powered by electric motors:  They’re just nicer and more fun to
drive.  First, the numbers: Recent Ford research says if
electric cars cost the same as gasoline cars, 60 percent of
buyers would consider one.  But if the financial breakeven point
were eight years, that number falls to 8 percent. And depending
on the assumptions you use, many electric cars don’t deliver
even an eight-year payback today.  Nonetheless, ads for electric
cars tend to focus either on the moral benefits of zero
emissions (e.g. polar bears hugging Nissan Leaf owners) or
higher gas-mileage numbers for plu