The R8 e-tron and SLS E-Cell are both slower 0-60, less range, and much more expensive than the 3-year old Tesla Roadster which will end production soon. They're luxo GTs and it's a cramped electric Lotus, but I'm not sure why anyone would be more excited by German promises than American achievement.

The Rimac Concept_One has almost twice as big a battery pack as the Tesla Roadster and four times as many motors, so the performance numbers are feasible. On the other hand, the Audi R8 e-tron has 4 motors but is only rated at 308 hp and 0-60 mph in 4.8 s, slower than the Roadster.

Definitely. Porsche's light changes and the new hood line managed to match VW. It would be so cool to put a VW badge and the VW's bumper and front spoiler on your 991!

For sure the F355 is a beautiful car (I own three! — Hot Wheels 1:64, Hot Wheels 1:18, and the Barbie RC model), but from that front angle, and only from that angle, the Lotus M100 Elan looks even nicer. (dave_7's Flickr photo).

Conspicuous consumption is also millions of people driving the same commute day after day as a single passenger in a 3000+ lb vehicle. Most households have more than one car.

You beat me to it. While Audi, BMW, Opel, and VW show their concepts of a future electric commuter car, Renault will supposedly put one on sale by the end of 2011.

If you crouch low, the new Beetle looks quite similar to the new Porsche from the front. I bet VW tuners will make the resemblance explicit.

It suits the narrow mindset of Jalopnik editors to stick their fingers in their ears, their heads in the sand, and pretend that the electrification of the automobile isn't happening and that Frankfurt isn't a big flashing sign pointing in that direction. Were they not pandering to, and egged on by, gasoline…

What would you like Audi to do instead? Make trains? Go into the moving sidewalk business? Sell electric bicycles? (Actually Smart is showing an electric bike.) GM is trying new ideas like the EN-V mobile Segway-pod that can maneuver in crowds and cart your kids to school and then head home unattended, and they just…

While the Germans make concepts, something like it is nearing actual sale. The Renault Twizy "will go on sale in Europe at the end of 2011 with a price tag beginning at €6,990". The big difference is the Twizy isn't fully enclosed and its top speed is only 50 mph.

"car" magazine's 13-word Phantom review is unsurpassed:

Hey, that's my photo of my 1984 Civic 1500 S, glad you like it! Handsome as hell, 12.5 feet of city car perfection, but it was underpowered (I think 76 hp, no injection) with no midrange torque, and gave little feedback before it understeered off the road. I know the VW GTI was more fun to drive, and no doubt so was…

Nice story, lucky you. Back around 1981, the GTI was a distant Euro dream in North America, and I could only get the Rabbit with the faux-GTI "S" trim. The Rabbit was better than the Fiat Strada that drove Fiat out of USA or the Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon twins that Chrysler made from the tired Simca, and a European…

Energy isn't free, so inefficiency matters. Making H2 from electrolysis of water is inefficient, so it's hugely expensive: if you'd need $10,000 in solar panels (or nuclear reactor) to recharge batteries, you'd need ~$25,000+ of them to make H2 to go the same distance. So most H2 actually comes from steam reformation…

I think it's the other way around. Hydrogen is completely impractical while there are a handful of public refueling stations (I think every single H2 car in the USA is in Southern California), but in the long run as oil gets harder to come by, H2 might make sense when and if a network of stations is built. You can…

So the Koenisgesgeggeggsseg's doors are actually completely impractical if you ever parallel park next to curbs that are over 4 inches tall. I've just cancelled my order; thanks for saving me $545,568 !

Your women. I want to buy your women. The little girl, your daughters... sell them to me. Sell me your children!

it's theoretical repeatability

Since it struggled to get the first production cars out in 2008, Tesla has made and sold about 1800 Roadsters. By the time the second generation (Venturi has shown the Fétish for a decade, it's unclear if they ever sold any) of tiny-volume electric European electric sports cars "arrive" from Rimac, Lightning GT,…

Straw man and unsupported ad hominem. The average person interested in electric cars understands far more than the average Jalopnik exactly where their electricity comes from, but that doesn't stop the lecturing.