"Cars and buses have got extremely heavy and big - just look at the original mini"Don't know about buses but as regards cars, this is not for fun or style. It is to protect the people inside and outside the car plus to make the vehicle cheaper to build and lighter - thus using less fuel. Moreover, an elctric vehicle is about 50% heavier than a car with an ICE, due to the weight of the batteries. This means it needs more energy to get from a to b - not the same amount per extra kg since some of the energy requirement is down to air resistance and that depends upon speed and form factor rather than weight.Safety requirements in countries such as China and India are much laxer - hence less substantial cars.The limiting factor is probably the range, which at the moment dictates a big car sized battery pack to go 200 miles or so. Though many of our journeys are shorter, most of us do a long one occasionally, so getting car buyers to move over to smaller, lighter vehicles may take some time.
Michael Winstanley ● 1587d